SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting measure Proposition 50 easily won in Tuesday’s special election, a dramatic finale to California Democrats’ three-month retaliatory campaign against Republicans’ gerrymandering efforts.
Prop. 50 was ahead by an overwhelming margin (opens in new tab) in early results posted by the California secretary of state’s office. More than 64% of voters had approved Prop. 50 out of roughly 7 million ballots counted so far. The Associated Press called the race (opens in new tab) soon after polls closed at 8 p.m., though it will take several days for state officials to finalize ballot counting.
Democrats, who have spent the year since their devastating 2024 losses in a state of paralysis, needed this win.
Prop. 50 unified the fractured party in its crusade against President Donald Trump’s administration, if only temporarily, and invigorated a disillusioned voter base, at least in California.
“What a night for the Democratic Party, a party that is in its ascendency, a party that’s on its toes, no longer on its heels,” Newsom said during his victory speech at the California Democratic Party’s headquarters in Sacramento. He toggled between celebrating and warning Americans of what he described as the Trump administration’s threats to democracy.
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“We stood tall, and we stood firm in response to Donald Trump’s recklessness,” Newsom said. “And tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared, with an unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result.”
Prop. 50’s easy success belies what was once an uphill battle (opens in new tab) for Democrats.
Newsom was largely bluffing (opens in new tab) this summer when he said California would “fight fire with fire” against Trump’s demand for Texas Republicans to find five more congressional seats to retain the GOP’s slim House majority in next year’s midterms.
Newsom vowed to call off the tit-for-tat fighting if Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backed away from their plan. That never happened, forcing Newsom to make good on his promise to wage war in California and pursue legislation to put new congressional maps before voters in order to make five Republican-leaning districts more favorable to Democrats. He dubbed his measure the “Election Rigging Response Act.”
It was a big gamble.
California voters more than a decade ago created an independent redistricting commission (opens in new tab) to draw congressional boundaries after each decennial census. Surveys have shown that the 14-member panel, which consists of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four unaffiliated voters, enjoys bipartisan support (opens in new tab).
“In one fell swoop, political insiders grabbed the power away from the people,” California Republican Party chair Corrin Rankin said in a Tuesday speech after the race was called. “I truly believe that the Republican Party is on the right side of history in this case.”
The maps authorized via Prop. 50 will be used for the next three election cycles, until the commission meets again in the new decade, a temporary alteration that helped Democrats convince skeptical voters that it was the best tactic to take on the Trump administration.
“It’s one of the very few means by which Democratic voters might feel like they have some control in their hands when it comes to battling the Trump administration,” said Cal State Sacramento political science professor Kim Nalder.
During Monday’s rally, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi warned voters that Prop. 50 was their best chance to push back against Trump, whom she described in a CNN interview as a “vile creature (opens in new tab), the worst thing on the face of the earth.”
“So much is at stake in this,” Pelosi told reporters after the Prop. 50 event. “The antidote to their poison is to win the election. I want to win big.”
East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell said Prop. 50 was “not just a fight for California, but a fight for the country.”
“It means having a government that functions, having healthcare that’s affordable and delivers, and having a president that’s compassionate,” Swalwell said.
Prop. 50 is a big boost for Democrats, but it’s Newsom who stands to benefit the most. Newsom is openly considering a 2028 presidential run (opens in new tab) and can leverage his role as Prop. 50’s champion — along with donors across the country who contributed roughly $114 million to pass the measure (opens in new tab) — to launch his campaign.
“Newsom has used [Prop. 50] to his great opportunity to take on Trump, to organize. He’s grown his online fundraising capabilities nationally,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant based in Sacramento. “He won 2025.”
Indeed, the Prop. 50 event Monday in San Francisco felt more like a campaign rally for the governor, with supporters cheering “Viva Gavin Newsom!” and one speaker after another praising his leadership.
“It’s clear that this governor has a vision for our country,” said Pelosi, who has bolstered Newsom’s career since his early days in San Francisco politics. “When this opportunity occurred, Gavin had a plan.”
It’s still far too soon to commission Newsom’s presidential portrait. Many see Democrats as vulnerable to the same cultural and economic problems that plagued them in the 2024 election. And while Newsom has earned accolades from voters with his confrontational tone against Trump, it’s unclear whether his reputation as a sleek San Francisco liberal would appeal to the masses against more moderate challengers.
“Several of his would-be competitors are running for reelection in 2026. And they’re going to gain more spotlight and attention than he will as he finishes out his last year as a lame duck, with frankly a lot of difficulties in California,” Stutzman said.
Newsom’s popularity has waxed and waned over his years in office — which saw a pandemic, a recall election against him, a ballooning homelessness and affordability crisis, and two Trump presidencies, Nalder noted.
“He’s taken on the mantle for years as the anti-Trump governor, the antidote to Trump,” Nalder said. But “the hopes and expectations [in 2028] are going to be sky high, beyond probably what we’ve ever seen in a presidential election.”
Meanwhile, Democrats still have to win the new districts that Prop. 50 creates, which span from Northern California to the Inland Empire, and party leaders are not certain they can easily claim all five.
“This is not the end. This is the beginning,” South Bay Rep. Zoe Lofgren, one of the architects of Prop. 50, told supporters during Monday’s rally. “It doesn’t mean we will get five seats. It means we have an opportunity to win five seats.”
Newsom ended his speech cautioning supporters against believing the fight was over. He noted that Trump on Tuesday called the election a “GIANT SCAM (opens in new tab)” and that mail-in ballots were “under very serious legal and criminal review.” Other GOP-led states have meanwhile joined the gerrymandering war, (opens in new tab) which could dilute Prop. 50’s overall effect.
“He is not screwing around,” Newsom said of the president. “So tonight I’m proud, but I’m very mindful and sober of the moment we are living in. Donald Trump does not believe in fair and free elections.”