Proposition 50 passes in victory for Gavin Newsom and California Democrats

Proposition 50 requested California voters to briefly exchange the state’s congressional districts, drawn by a politically-independent fee, with new maps designed to elect extra Democrats to the U.S. Home of Representatives. The plan tosses the political maps that divvy up California’s 52 seats within the Home.

The Related Press known as the win for Prop. 50 at 8 p.m. as voting closed.

In native races, early returns urged that Santa Clara County voters had been on monitor to approve Measure A, a gross sales tax enhance. Within the county assessor’s race, Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor had a robust lead over her opponents. Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar trailed behind her, adopted intently by Saratoga Councilmember Yan Zhao and East Facet Union Excessive Faculty District Trustee Bryan Do.

And early outcomes confirmed effectively above nearly all of voters approving Measure B, an East Bay parcel tax to fund gear, facility and expertise enhancements in an area hospital district.

That argument resonated with Catrina Rivera, 62, who lives in Fremont and voted for Proposition 50. Rivera stated she doesn’t like the thought of redistricting, however her distaste for Trump and Republicans gained over.

“These people are getting away with murder,” she stated.

Not all voters had been satisfied. Jim Nelson, a Republican who lives in Fremont, voted in opposition to Proposition 50 on Election Day on the Veterans’ Memorial Constructing.

“I don’t think that the state on a whim should change the rules any way they want,” Nelson stated.

Democrats presently maintain all however 9 of California’s Home seats. The Bay Space wouldn’t see main adjustments underneath the brand new maps, which flush extra Democratic voters into districts in Southern California, the Central Valley and elsewhere in Northern California, focusing on 5 seats that Republicans maintain.

The governor forged Prop. 50’s passage as defeat for Trump, whom he stated has failed in his guarantees to make the nation “healthier” and “wealthier,” and can face the wrath of voters within the 2026 midterms.

“​​Why else is he trying to rig the midterm elections before one single vote is even cast? He understands his position at this moment,” the governor stated.

Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Social gathering, stated Prop. 50 is a travesty for the state’s unbiased redistricting course of. The state redistricting fee balances energy between Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters. That’s the “gold standard” and ought to be emulated by different states, Rankin stated. However “in one fell swoop, political insiders grab the power away from the people.”

Munger, who bankrolled campaigns to enshrine unbiased redistricting greater than a decade in the past, took a unique strategy. This 12 months, he spent greater than $30 million in a bid to dam Proposition 50 — largely by papering properties with political mailers declaring the measure a menace to democracy.

“Gerrymandering is wrong, no matter who does it,” one mailer learn.

Whether or not Prop. 50 will affect the 2026 midterm elections — a vital juncture for Trump and Republicans who management each chambers of Congress, and have aggressively moved to reform authorities and the economic system — stays to be seen.

Lawmakers in different states, Republican and Democratic alike, are contemplating redistricting earlier than the midterms as effectively. The place maps are tossed out and changed — and the way — will recast the 2026 election.

Santa Clara County Measure A would elevate the native gross sales tax price by 0.625% and is predicted to generate $330 million yearly. County supervisors have forged the tax enhance as unlucky however essential to shore up the county’s huge well being care system as they face roughly $1 billion in misplaced federal revenues yearly from proposed well being care cuts by Trump and Republicans. Opponents, although, say taxes are already too excessive domestically, and a rise would put Campbell, Milpitas and San Jose at a ten% gross sales tax price or larger. As a common gross sales tax, it wanted a easy majority to move.

Santa Clara County additionally was seeing its first open race for assessor for the primary time in additional than three a long time. Larry Stone, who was first elected to the put up in 1994, stepped down earlier this 12 months from the job of figuring out the worth of taxable property within the county. If no candidate wins greater than 50% of the vote, the 2 main candidates will compete in a December runoff.

In Alameda County, the Measure B parcel tax would generate $13 million yearly over the following 12 years for Washington Township Well being Care District, a particular district that features the cities of Fremont, Newark and Union Metropolis, in addition to elements of Hayward and Sunol. It confronted no organized opposition and wanted a easy majority to move.

Polling website employee Cheryl Uithoven, proper, helps a voter along with her poll on the Castro Valley Neighborhood Heart on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Castro Valley, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group)

Folks arrive to vote for the Statewide Particular Election on the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)

An indication to encourage voting is up for the Statewide Particular Election on the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)

Folks arrive to vote for the Statewide Particular Election on the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)

An individual votes through the Statewide Particular Election on the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)

A United States Inflatable Tube Man is up on the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)

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Polling website employee Cheryl Uithoven, proper, helps a voter along with her poll on the Castro Valley Neighborhood Heart on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Castro Valley, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group)

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