California voters approve Democratic-led redistricting plan, direct shot at Trump’s GOP maps

California voters have delivered a decisive win for Democrats, approving a ballot measure that will reshape the state’s electoral map in a way likely to boost the party’s chances in next year’s midterm elections, and potentially blunt President Donald Trump’s redistricting offensive across Republican-led states.

Early results from Tuesday’s vote show Proposition 50 passing by a two-to-one margin, a major victory for Governor Gavin Newsom, who framed the campaign as a fight for democracy itself. The new map could net Democrats up to five extra House seats, roughly offsetting the GOP gains expected in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio after Trump urged allies there to redraw boundaries in his favor.

Trump lashed out within hours, calling the vote a “GIANT SCAM” and claiming that the “entire process … is RIGGED.” Newsom fired back on X, dismissing the outburst as “the ramblings of an old man who knows he’s about to lose.”

“Voters sent a powerful message tonight — democracy fights back,” the governor added.

Under Proposition 50, California’s new congressional districts will apply to the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections. Normally, redistricting is handled by an independent citizens’ commission established in 2008 to keep politics out of the process. But Democrats argued the move was necessary to counter Republican gerrymanders in other states that could otherwise secure Trump a loyal congressional majority.

The new lines are designed to dilute Republican strongholds, for example, merging parts of conservative northern California with liberal Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

Newsom’s campaign turned the ballot fight into a national spectacle. One ad dramatized Trump hurling French fries at a TV while watching the results roll in.

Barack Obama also weighed in, saying Republicans were “trying to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election.”

But Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Republican governor who helped create the state’s independent redistricting commission, accused Democrats of hypocrisy. “This takes power away from the people,” he warned.

Despite such objections, Proposition 50’s success cements California’s role as the center of Democratic resistance to Trump, and gives Newsom a higher national profile as he positions himself as a future party leader heading into 2028.