SANDPIPER ENDORSEMENT: YES ON PROP. 50 

Are you frustrated by not being able to take action against the raging authoritarianism of the Trump regime?

Are you frustrated by the bald power grab by the Texas Legislature, egged on by President Trump, to “rig” the midterm elections to benefit Trump? Texas rushed to adopt a new hyper-partisan, gerrymandered map designed to flip five House seats held by Democrats to the GOP.

There is one simple definitive step you can take to counter Trump’s efforts to rig next year’s Congressional elections–vote “Yes” on Prop 50, when your ballot arrives in this week’s mail.

Last year, Texans elected 25 Republican and 13 Democratic Representatives. On August 5, President Trump proclaimed, “We are entitled to five more seats” in Texas – a totally unsupported claim that echoes his insistence in 2021 that Georgia should “find” him 11,780 votes. Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years, following the census, so it should not take place until 2030. But Trump urged Republican-led states to change congressional districts now, and Texas did just that.

If California doesn’t respond to this Trump power grab, next year’s midterms are likely to hand Trump and the GOP what they are otherwise likely to lose: control of the House. Our nearly evenly-divided country would then face two more years of total control of every branch of government by Trump and the GOP: both houses of Congress, the Executive branch, and the Supreme Court.

As the Official Ballot states, “Prop 50 authorizes temporary changes to Congressional district maps in response to Texas’ partisan redistricting.” California has an independent redistricting committee that adjusts congressional district boundaries after each census. Although this is the fairest mechanism, it is naïve to assume that California should ignore the effort by Texas and Trump to have control of the House decided by hyper-partisan redistricting, rather than by the will of the voters.

Prop 50 proposes a temporary redistricting to offset the five seats likely to be lost in Texas, by shifting congressional district boundaries to favor Democratic candidates in 5 districts currently represented by Republicans. The redistricting process will revert to the independent commission following the 2030 census.

Prop. 50 is the only effective tool we have to counter Trump’s unprecedented strategy to rig the midterm elections. Already, Missouri has followed Texas’s lead, with new redistricting signed into law on September 28.

It is important to remember that Prop. 50 is a temporary measure that will end after the 2030 census. The Sandpiper urges you to vote YES on Prop. 50. You can securely return your ballot by using the ballot drop box in front of City Hall.

Don’t let your frustration freeze you–Prop 50 Is a strong tool that we have. Let’s take action!