In California’s Proposition 50, Voters See a Battle for Democracy’s Future

Wedrell James has fond memories of San Francisco City Hall. 

His father worked as a custodian in the building, and James remembers walking down the marbled halls with him, listening to stories about the workings of local government. 

“So I have a great feeling about this place,” said James, 71. “My parents always voted, so it was just something I grew up with.”

James, a resident of the city’s Bayview neighborhood, returned to those same marbled halls on Thursday to cast his ballot in favor of California’s Proposition 50.

He characterized the ballot measure as a fight for the future of democracy itself. 

“ They’re trying to steal our government from us. And if we don’t do something, we’re going to lose it,” James said. 

Across the Bay Area and beyond, Californians turned out Tuesday in the final day of voting in this statewide special election. At issue is Proposition 50, which would temporarily redraw current congressional maps in the state to favor Democrats. The new maps would be in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 House elections.

Ordinarily, California’s redistricting is handled at the end of each decade by a nonpartisan, citizen-led commission. State legislators moved to change that over the summer by putting Proposition 50 on the ballot after Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and lawmakers made good on a request from President Trump to redraw that state’s congressional maps to favor Republicans.

The ballot measure would move the boundaries of multiple congressional districts in the Bay Area. Over 100,000 voters in Antioch and Pittsburg would be shuffled out of the current 8th Congressional District, which includes other cities along the Carquinez Strait, into the 9th Congressional District, in an attempt to safeguard the seat of Rep. Josh Harder, a Central Valley Democrat seen as politically vulnerable.

Much of Sonoma County would be moved into the 1st Congressional District, an injection of Democratic voters that could unseat Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represents a wide swath of northeastern California.

San Francisco resident Sarah Mohr voted no, but when she emerged from her polling place in the Dogpatch neighborhood around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, she was conflicted.

“I felt like it was kind of a decision between what I felt was morally right and what I wanted to see happen at the federal level,” she said, adding that she flip-flopped out on how to vote for weeks, unsure even as she ate her morning oatmeal Tuesday.

She believes gerrymandering anywhere is wrong, and congressional maps shouldn’t be redrawn outside of their usual timelines. But she’s also aware that her decision to vote no, which she felt was “morally” right, could have consequences.

“I do feel kind of guilty, to be completely honest, because I see what’s happening at the federal level and I don’t like what I see,” she told KQED. “I know that if Prop 50 were not to be passed, I think what’s currently happening would just continue to happen more extremely.”

Jimmy Tran of Oakland, who works in the city, also voted no on the measure last week. Dropping off his ballot at City Hall, he said he too is opposed to gerrymandering in both Texas and California, but that Proposition 50 would lead to less representation in California for Republicans like himself.

“The people that I’m around, their views are more Republican, but I don’t think the [Legislature] in California represents that, and I think the [Legislature] of California should represent the people of California,” said Tran, who voted for President Donald Trump in the last election.

Many voters who ultimately made a different decision, voting in support of the measure, admitted that they agreed with Mohr’s and Tran’s dislike of gerrymandering generally.

Alexandra Wolfe of Oakland said after casting her vote: “There are times where the practical reality of your life is more important than your philosophies, and this feels like one of them.”

“I don’t think there’s a good result out of this,” said Norbert Szmyt, who voted in the Dogpatch.

Still, he said, Democrats have put a lot of focus on “just trying to do the quote-unquote right thing. And that’s just caused everybody on the other side to do whatever they want. They haven’t followed the rules, so we [have] got to do something and stop being walked over.”

Others, like Mark Salomon, who lives in the city’s Mission District, blamed Democrats for putting voters in the position to have to support Prop 50.

“If the Democrats had put together a political and economic appeal that resonated with voters then they wouldn’t need to be doing this,” he said, casting his ballot at City Hall last week. “Instead of coming forth with a political program on Medicare for all, expanding social security, education and housing issues, they’ve got nothing. So instead they have to rig the game to fight a guy who’s rigging the game.”

Polls are indicating that Proposition 50 is likely to pass. Gov. Gavin Newsom has campaigned heavily in support of the measure, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act. Speaking on Monday at a get-out-the-vote event in San Francisco, he framed it as a way to fight back against the Trump administration.

“ People are on edge. Communities of color are on edge. Folks [are] scared to death to go out trick or treating, scared to walk their dogs, go to a playground, go to a loved one’s funeral because they might be disappeared on the basis of what they look like, where they congregate, the language they speak in the United States of America today,” Newsom said, referencing increased immigration enforcement by the Trump administration.

Shidume Lozada, said given the stakes, she had no misgivings about voting yes on 50.

“I feel like extreme measures need to be taken right now,” Lozada said, who voted early. “I feel like the Republican Party is playing extremely dirty. It’s beyond un-American. So if this is what needs to happen, then this is what needs to happen.”

Neither did Jenny Morales in Oakland, who said she was voting for her friends who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which are being impacted by the federal government shutdown, and immigrants like her parents, who are being targeted by increased immigration enforcement.

“This is giving me a slight little hope as a chance to fight back,” she said.

KQED’s Marisa Lagos and Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.