Senator Megan Dahle on Prop.
50 If you are a California voter, you will be getting a ballot this week. And if you don’t closely follow state politics, you might not have heard about the very troubling proposition that is the only issue most of us will be voting on. It’s a bad deal and I recommend a NO vote. Let me explain why.
Fifteen years ago, Californians went to the ballot and passed a good-government reform that wrote a key principle into the state Constitution: Voters should choose their representatives, and not the other way around.
The 2010 Voters FIRST Act for Congress gave the authority to draw new congressional districts for the state, a process required after each Census, to an independent commission made of Republicans, Democrats and independents – but nobody with any political ties. That means no paid consultants pushing maps that help their candidates, no party activists tilting the field for their team, no former elected officials doing favors for their old pals. The decisions were made by ordinary citizens stepping up to do their civic duty, after holding meetings around the state, doing their best to keep communities together in ways that foster the fairest possible representation.
In the coming Nov. 4 election, voters have a choice. Will they stick with this citizen power? Or will they let politicians take it back to play their own political games?
Proposition 50 tears up the work of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in favor of new maps specifically drawn to throw targeted representatives out of office – not by beating them with better ideas, but by carving up their districts to favor the other party, all to win power in Washington in 2026.
This is very personal in the North State.
The 1st Senate District, which I am honored to represent in Sacramento, currently overlaps with two congressional districts – represented by Rep. Doug LaMalfa and Rep. Kevin Kiley. Both are tireless advocates for the communities they represent, and have been elected and re-elected even facing well-funded opponents because voters recognize and respect their hard work. They know the towns large and small around the region and fight to address their local needs.
Prop. 50 would rearrange the congressional district maps to strongly favor Democrats, while breaking up communities.
Nevada and Placer counties would be in a district with Sacramento County, and a sitting congressman from the city has already announced plans to run.
Plumas, Lassen and Sierra counties would be put in a district that stretches all the way across the Coast Range to Santa Rosa’s wine country.
Colusa, Yuba and Sutter counties would be carved into a Democrat-dominated new district with Davis and Napa.
Worst of all, Modoc, Siskiyou and Shasta counties are lumped into a district that stretches over to the coast, runs down a remote stretch of Highway 1’s redwood country, then connects to Marin County. These conservative North State counties will lose their longtime representation in favor of an incumbent Democrat from San Rafael.
Nobody can argue with a straight face that these maps connect communities with common interests.
The Democratic politicians pushing Prop. 50 argue that Texas made similar changes first, and they are only responding.
But our communities deserve better than to be pawns in national political games. The message Prop. 50 sends to the North State and the rest of California’s rural communities is that your viewpoints don’t matter, you don’t matter. As far as they’re concerned, you are blank spots on a map to be rearranged for their power grab.
When my ballot arrives, I will be voting for good government, fair representation, and a steady voice for rural California. I hope you will join me in voting No on Prop. 50.
