The Battle of Red versus Blue in the U.S. House of Representatives

California Legislative Analyst's Office. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The people of California, the most populous state in the United States at an upwards of 39 million people, passed Proposition 50 on November 4, 2025. Proposition 50, also called Prop 50, proposes a re-drawing of California’s current congressional lines. Congressional lines divide  a state’s congressional districts, each of which have a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. These congressional districts are identified by their political party, most commonly either Democratic or Republican, creating the complete House of Representatives of 435 seats. The House, along with the U.S. Senate, has the authority to pass or defeat bills. 

California currently holds the largest number of seats in the House at 52 seats. Of those 52, under the previous plan, 41 of them were held by the Democratic Party, while under Prop 50, up to 47 could be given to Democrats. This is assuming that every congressional district won by Kamala Harris in 2024 would go to a Democratic House candidate. California’s new congressional map aims to redraw six of the state’s most heavily Democratic districts, reshaping them to still lean Democratic but include a larger share of Republican voters. The Democratic voters who are re-districted will then push other districts more Democratic.

Proposition 50 is unabashedly extremely partisan: the new map heavily favors the Democratic Party, and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has clearly expressed that the initiative is in direct battle against President Donald Trump, remarking that the voters in favor of Prop 50 are demonstrating the sentiment that, “there has to be a new approach to dealing with Trump and Trumpism”. 

This redistricting effort is considered abnormal, as it is off-cycle from the usual redistricting of every ten years. However, it is a direct response to another odd redistricting effort: the new congressional map in Texas. This new map was signed into law on August 23, 2025, by Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R,TX) after heavy pressure from Trump. Texas holds the  second largest  number of seats in the House of Representatives with a total of 38. The new map intended to win an additional five seats for the GOP in the 2026 midterms. 

However, on November 18, 2025, a federal court in Texas blocked the new map after a civil rights group sued to invalidate the map, with the judge's finding that “substantial evidence show[ed] that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.” This ruling has already been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the meantime, pressure has been placed on Indiana Republicans to re-draw congressional lines in order to win two more districts for the GOP, a request that has so far not been obliged.

Similar concerns pertaining to racial gerrymandering have been raised about the new congressional map in California. In an issue by the “No on 50” campaign funded by House Republicans, politicians voiced that the new map draws lines through Asian American and Latino communities in Los Angeles County, potentially violating the Voting Rights Act. The federal Voting Rights Act requires that if there are enough minority voters in one region to make up the majority of the vote, the state is required to draw congressional lines protecting that majority- ensuring that those communities can elect representatives of their choosing. Additionally, California Republicans filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the new map is unconstitutional because they were drawn to increase voting power of particular racial groups.

Despite these concerns, Prop 50 does not change racial majorities in congressional districts: both the previous plan and the new plan contain 16 “majority districts”, all with a Latino majority. In a report detailing how Prop 50 will affect racial and geographic districting, senior fellow Eric McGhee at the Public Policy Institute of California states that Prop 50, “deviates mostly by creating more Democratic seats.” 

The passing of Proposition 50 has triggered a frantic grab for the majority in the House of Representatives between the Democratic and Republican parties. Newsom has called for action among Democratic leaders in other states to advance redistricting efforts, including those in Virginia and Maryland. In contrast, as a response to Prop 50 Trump posted on X that, “The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” a statement dismissed by Newsom as, “the ramblings of an old man that knows he’s about to LOSE.” 

Proposition 50 has had a great effect on the predictions for the 2026 midterms. With the five or so additional seats going to Democrats, it is possible that control of the House will turn over to the Democratic Party, ceasing the Republicans's full control of the federal government. This action by Newsom, motivated by Texas’s re-drawing of its map, is widely viewed as a win for Democrats, who have long been urging the Democratic Party to take a less docile stance in the fight against the right.