Full disclosure: I’m the type of person who would bring an NPR bookbag to a gunfight. Actually, I wouldn’t knowingly go anywhere featuring guns, so most likely I’d just stay home and read a book.
But suppose somebody burst into my house, threatening everything and everyone I hold dear, while I sat reading? I’d fight back however I could. An attack on my house calls for self-defense.
That’s what’s happening now with a literal attack on the House of Representatives. Republicans know that they are likely to lose control of the US House in the 2026 midterms. That’s why Donald Trump and his enablers, in an unprecedented power grab, have redrawn Congressional district maps in Texas to try to snatch five more House seats from Democrats in the 2026 mid-terms.
To counter Texas, California is fighting fire with fire with the Election Rigging Response Act, aka Proposition 50, a thoughtful counter to the Republicans’ bad-faith maneuvers. It asks voters to allow temporarily replacing maps approved by the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission with new maps favoring Democrats, reverting back to CRC-drawn maps following the 2030 census. Additionally, the temporary maps would only take effect if and only if a Republican-led state redraws their maps first.
That’s the trigger Texas just pulled, with other red states soon to follow.
So it’s time to put down that NPR bookbag and fight back by voting for and spreading the word about Proposition 50, on the ballot in California’s special election on November 4. It’s the best way to stop the steal of the US House in the 2026 midterms.
Yet there’s well-funded opposition to Proposition 50: Before the ink was even dry on the state legislature’s approval for placing it on the ballot, I received three glossy mailers warning against it as a dire threat to democracy. Opponents misleadingly gave the impression that the widely respected League of Women Voters opposes this bill by quoting the League’s California President out of context. Her remarks against mid-cycle redistricting and for independent commissions were made in response to Texas’s plans to redraw their maps. In fact, California’s LVW has forcefully repudiated the unauthorized misuse of their President’s words, and has made clear that they are not taking a position on Proposition 50 in keeping with their non-partisan stance.
Californians are rightly proud of their independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (whose maps will be temporarily replaced if Proposition 50 passes). It pains many of us that the scorched-earth fanaticism and/or cowardice of today’s Republican Party has led to this point. Yet here we are.
In discussing this with friends, most see a “Yes” vote as a no-brainer. But not all (I know a lot of people with NPR bookbags). I’ve heard worries about hypocrisy, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” and other slippery-slope concerns. Some are mad at Democrats for not doing enough to fight Trump, and now appear equally mad that the party of extremely limited power is exercising one of the few options of power they actually possess. One friend is mulling over the choice between “pragmatism vs. principle,” and is leaning toward principle. I understand all of these impulses.
But there is nothing principled about letting the unpopular, destructive, and often lawless policies of the current administration continue when we have the power to thwart it. We did not ask for this fight, but since it’s been foisted upon us, we have two choices: Do nothing and let Republicans continue their assault on America, or stand up and fight.
Vote YES on Proposition 50 in the special election on November 4.
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Make sure you are registered to vote (and tell your friends and family, too)!
Want to volunteer to help pass Proposition 50?
–Bay Area Coalition is my home base, and we’ve been movers and shakers in key elections nationwide for many years
-Most importantly, talk up the importance of voting in this and other elections among your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and everybody you can think of.