California Republicans Sue Over Proposition 50, Alleging Unconstitutional Racial Bias

California Republicans filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the legality of Proposition 50, the ballot measure to redraw California’s congressional maps that was overwhelmingly approved by state voters this week.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Central District of California on behalf of GOP Assemblymember David Tangipa, along with 16 California voters from various congressional districts. It contends that the congressional maps in Proposition 50 were drawn to favor Latino voters in violation of the 14th and 15th amendments of the Constitution.

“As an elected official here in the state of California, I’m appalled by what has happened,” Tangipa said, alleging that the new maps will benefit Latinos at the expense of other racial groups. “What this is about is fighting for our voices to make sure that we are all heard the same as everybody else.”

While the Supreme Court has allowed states to draw districts that would benefit one racial group, the lawsuit said it is only allowed when that minority “could not elect its preferred candidates due to the concerted opposition of voters of a white majority race.”

The suit contends that “Hispanic voters have successfully elected their preferred candidates to both state and federal office, without being thwarted by a racial majority voting as a bloc.”

But some experts see the lawsuit as a long shot. Matt Barreto, a political science professor at UCLA and Democratic pollster, said it will be hard for Republicans to argue that the maps were based on race, given the very public statements by Gov. Gavin Newsom and others who backed it.

“California did not draw their map based on race. The governor was very clear that this was a partisan objective to push back against Republican control in other states,” he said. “This Republican lawsuit is saying just because you said the word ‘Latino’ or the word ‘Asian,’ your map should be thrown out. And I don’t think that’s to get very far. They don’t seem to have a lot of evidence in this complaint.”

Proposition 50 was placed on the ballot by state Democrats, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, following President Donald Trump’s demand that Texas and other Republican-led states redraw their maps to help keep the GOP in control of the House of Representatives in 2026.

The ballot measure temporarily throws out the congressional maps created just a few years ago by California’s independent redistricting commission and adopts new maps that give Democrats the opportunity to pick up five more seats.

Under Proposition 50, those maps would expire after the 2030 census, and the redistricting commission would begin drawing lines again.

In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Newsom’s press office said: “We haven’t reviewed the lawsuit, but if it’s from the California Republican Party and Harmeet Dhillon’s law firm, it’s going to fail. Good luck, losers.”