Topline:
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday endorsing Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting measure aimed at increasing the number of California Democrats serving in Congress.
The Backstory: If it passes in November, Proposition 50 would redraw the Congressional district lines in California so that five Republican seats likely would flip to Democrats. Newsom says the measure is designed to counter a move by Texas, orchestrated by President Donald Trump, to redraw its lines so that five Democratic seats would switch to Republican.
What’s at stake: Republicans and Democrats are vying for control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections.
L.A. City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, a Democrat who co-sponsored the resolution, called the battle over redistricting “the fight of our lifetime.”
“As much as I don’t want to change the integrity of the way we’ve adopted redistricting, this is a special circumstance where we need to fight and not be passive,” he told LAist.
Republicans: GOP leaders in California oppose Proposition 50, saying it overturns the work of the California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission. The independent commission was created in 2008 to end the practice of state legislators drawing their own district lines.
In 2010, the commission also was given the responsibility of drawing congressional district boundaries. Republicans also call Prop 50 a power grab by Newsom.