In California, on November 4, voters are being asked to decide whether to approve a redistricting plan, Prop 50, in a special election, where it is the only statewide measure on the ballot. If passed, it would give the Democratic Party machine the right to redraw congressional voting districts in the state. That would give the Democrats a majority in five newly created voting districts. The special California statewide election will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The Democrats claim Prop 50 is a defense of democracy, a measure that will protect the U.S. from the spread of Trump’s right-wing authoritarian politics. In the words of California Governor Gavin Newsom, this is a way to fight “fire with fire.”
It is the Democrats’ way to counteract the move by the Republican-controlled government in Texas that recently redrew its congressional maps to boost Republican chances of holding onto control of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections, by securing five additional seats.
This struggle for power in Congress has drawn high-profile and rich Democrats into the electoral maneuver. So far, the wealthy supporters of both parties have spent more than $200 million on this effort. In the final weeks leading up to the vote, Barack Obama appeared in YouTube ads urging voters to support it. “California, the whole nation is counting on you,” Obama said in one ad. In another, he said that “Democracy is on the ballot.” Californian Governor Newsom has been rebranded as a tough-talking politician, ready to lead the fight against Trump’s authoritarianism. This is aimed at raising his national profile and to position himself as the Democrat ready to take on Trump in the 2028 presidential campaign.
Currently, 14 other states are in the process of redrawing the voting maps of their states to impact the outcome of the 2026 elections. This process of “redistricting” usually occurs every ten years, after the national census. States often redraw congressional and legislative boundaries to reflect population changes. The redistricting is commonly manipulated to benefit the party in power. The practice is known as “gerrymandering.” By splitting some communities and expanding others, they can lock in political control far beyond their actual level of public support.
If Prop 50 passes, given current voting patterns, five more districts would be solidly Democratic. Four traditional Republican districts would be solidified, further deepening the political divide created by the two parties. In reality, it is a way to further undermine the so-called democracy of the electoral process. In the new “Democratic” districts, the vote of people living in sparsely populated rural areas won’t have any impact on the elections (not that they or other voters have any real say in who is running for office to begin with).
For instance, the people of Modoc County, a rural county in northern California, sharing borders with Oregon and Nevada, will vote for the same congressional representative as people in Marin County, which is just to the north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge. Modoc County has a population of 8,646, living on 3,948 square miles. Marin County has a population of 254,407, living on 520 square miles. The needs of the two of them are vastly different. The class difference is enormous. Median household income in Modoc is $56,648, and 20.3% of people live below the poverty line. Marin County has a median household income of $139,644, and 9.1% live below the poverty line.
The question of representation in elections in California is not new. Ballot measures were approved in 2008 and 2010 to limit open manipulation like Prop 50 being put in place. A more independent “Citizens Redistricting Commission” was set up instead to oversee redistricting following the census. Prop 50 would undo this until the 2030 census, handing map-drawing power back to the Democratic Party-dominated legislature for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections.
The Democratic Party politicians are taking advantage of the genuine fears Trump’s far-right authoritarianism is creating. Faced with the terrorism of violent ICE raids, the devastating cuts to healthcare and food assistance, assaults on other government programs, education, freedom of speech, and the open white Christian nationalism of the Trump regime, many are looking for immediate solutions. They blame those who voted for Trump, and undermining the impact of their vote can seem like a small but concrete way to oppose Trump and the far-right’s consolidation of power.
To some, it can seem that this is a way to deal with the immediate threat posed by the Trump regime, but it ignores the situation that gave rise to Trump. It ignores the deep insecurities and fears that run throughout society. The openly racist, sadistic, and terrifying politics of the Trump regime have pushed some people to look to the Democratic Party as a force to halt the authoritarian drift of U.S. politics. By deliberately disenfranchising one section of the population, it deepens the divide in the working class. And it continues to leave things in the hands of the same Democratic Party politicians who helped to pave the way for the situation we are in today.
The reality of recent decades shows that under both Democratic and Republican administrations, living standards and quality of life for working people have steadily declined. Biden sided with the owners of the railroads to block a strike that could have given workers across the country, not just rail workers, the confidence to join the fight for better wages, working conditions, health care, time off, and other benefits.
And many of the Biden administration’s other policies foreshadowed Trump’s current policies, like expanded ICE and Border Patrol operations, deporting more immigrants than Trump did in his first term. And Biden and the Democrats fueled the barbaric genocide in Gaza.
Both parties represent the same class of billionaires and corporate interests. The two parties are not identical, but neither one offers an alternative to the status quo. On fundamental questions such as corporate power and the need for U.S. corporations, backed by the U.S. military, to dominate the world, they completely agree.
This current electoral maneuver does nothing to confront the forces driving Trump’s movement. Many who voted for Trump did so out of frustration and despair, not ideological loyalty—gambling that any disruption might be better than what exists. But many people also did not vote in the last election, not seeing it as relevant to their lives or in opposition to politicians who supported the genocide in Gaza.
A vote for Prop 50 will not stop Trump or the forces he represents. It will only reinforce the illusion that voting for Democrats will defend democracy. Instead of looking to the Democrats to fight Trump, we need to look to ourselves. Whether it be organizing to protect our communities from ICE raids, or fighting back against drastic cuts to social services, we have the power to defend our interests. We do all the work that makes society run. The discontent so many feel doesn’t have to turn to despair. There are many challenges in front of us that we can respond to by organizing to confront. And each step can contribute to the struggle for the larger changes we need.
