Newsom’s Big Prop 50 Gamble Just Paid Off: Erika D. Smith

Just as Governor Gavin Newsom predicted they would, millions of voters in California on Tuesday approved a ballot measure designed to check President Donald Trump’s power. Known as Proposition 50, it allows the deep blue state to be gerrymandered to give Democrats a better shot at retaking control of the House of Representatives from Republicans in 2026.

Newsom has deemed it a necessary response to Texas, where Republicans gerrymandered their state at Trump’s behest.

“They poked the bear,” he preemptively gloated on Monday, “and the bear is poking back.”

Indeed, in a widening national redistricting war, the Proposition 50 results ...