Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday accused the Trump administration of “rigging the election” by dispatching federal poll monitors to five California counties, as voters cast ballots on Newsom’s Proposition 50 redistricting measure.
The Department of Justice announced Friday that it would deploy personnel to polling sites in Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties to “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law,” ahead of the state’s Nov. 4 special election.
In an interview with KQED’s Political Breakdown, Newsom said the move was a “setup” for the Trump administration to cast doubt on the potential victory of Proposition 50 — a plan to redraw the state’s congressional district lines to advantage Democrats.
“They are creating the pretext that after we’re successful with Prop. 50, after there is a Democratic governor in New Jersey — and will be one in Virginia, unquestionably — that they can suggest somehow these were fraudulent, these elections were rigged against them,” Newsom said. “This is a preview of 2026. Wake up, everybody.”
Two officials involved in the DOJ announcement, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, are familiar faces in California politics. Dhillon is the former vice chair of the state Republican Party and Essayli is a former GOP state Assembly member.
“The Department of Justice will do everything necessary to protect the votes of eligible American citizens, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections.”
The DOJ did not provide a reason why the California jurisdictions — along with Passaic County in New Jersey — were selected. But the five counties were specifically named by California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin, in a letter sent to Dhillon on Monday, requesting the poll monitors.
“In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,” Rankin wrote.
Newsom insisted the deployment is laying the groundwork for the Trump administration to question the results of California’s vote.
“They will not be allowed to access the back rooms, and watch this — they will then express discontent with that,” Newsom predicted. “They will then suggest after we win, because we will and we must, that somehow the election was fraudulent.”
The governor also warned that the deployment to voting locations would expand beyond federal lawyers.
“You’re also going to see ICE deployed,” he said. “You’re going to see these masked men from Border Patrol also near voting booths and polling places.”
Early voting sites are set to open across California on Saturday. The DOJ did not respond to questions about when the poll-monitoring deployment would begin — and whether other federal agencies would be involved.
Local election officials had a more measured response to the announcement of federal poll watchers.
“The presence of election observers is not unusual and is a standard practice across the country,” Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said in a statement. “Federal election monitors, like all election observers, are welcome to view election activities at designated locations to confirm transparency and integrity in the election process. California has very clear laws and guidelines that support observation and prohibit election interference.”
In advance of the 2024 election, the Biden-led DOJ announced monitoring in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states, including San Joaquin County in California.
The poll-watcher deployment marks the latest conflict between Newsom and President Donald Trump over federal actions in California. The president federalized over 4,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles earlier this year, over Newsom’s objections. This week, Border Patrol officers arrived in the Bay Area in anticipation of an immigration operation in the region.
Trump’s push to send National Guard troops to Democratic-controlled cities, such as Chicago and Portland, have resulted in high-profile legal and political battles.
On Thursday, Trump said he decided to call off a planned federal “surge” into San Francisco, after a conversation with the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie. On Friday, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee confirmed the expected immigration enforcement had been canceled in the greater Bay Area as well.
But in a wide-ranging interview with KQED, Newsom said the threats have left a “chill” on residents in the state.
“People [in Los Angeles] are scared to go out to the playground or park,” Newsom said. “People [are] still scared to go to school.”
The ongoing confrontations with Trump have elevated Newsom’s national profile and won praise from Democrats across the country. This summer, he pushed the state Legislature to place Proposition 50 on the ballot in response to a pro-Republican redistricting in Texas that was encouraged by Trump.
While high-profile Democratic donors and labor groups have spent tens of millions of dollars to support Proposition 50, Newsom touted the small-dollar donations that have poured in from every state in the country.
“They want to see people stand up and have their backs and fight,” he said. “We’re so damn weak as a party.”
Asked how Democrats can rebuild support — in the face of polling showing the party’s favorability at its lowest level in decades — Newsom gave a simple prescription: “Win.”
“Our problem right now is weakness — we gotta win,” he said. “Strength, not holding hands, not having a candlelight vigil, not writing an op-ed in response to [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott, not trying to make a point, but make a difference.”
