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CHICO, California – Voting began this week for a statewide special election that would dramatically alter California’s congressional map. Proposition 50 could add up to five congressional seats held by Democrats in time for the 2026 midterm elections.
The measure asks California voters to temporarily allow the legislature to decide the state’s district maps until 2030, after which power would return to the independent California Redistricting Commission. If Proposition 50 wins, it could leave as few as four Republican-held seats statewide after 2026.
Recent polls show that Proposition 50 will likely pass. Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats say Proposition 50 is a necessary countermeasure to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas.
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The entrance to California State University, Chico. (Amalia Roy)
However, UC Davis professor Jim Adams warned that a short-term Democratic victory could have negative long-term consequences.
“I think even if Proposition 50 helps Democrats win a handful of additional seats in California, by winning the battle in California, Democrats can lose the war nationally,” Adams told Fox.
Adams, a Democrat, said he agrees with Proposition 50 supporters that he wants something done to stop Republican redistricting efforts in other parts of the country.
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“There is certainly a visceral satisfaction for Democrats in feeling that Proposition 50 helps them fight back. I don’t question that Democrats need to fight back. The question is whether they are fighting intelligently with Proposition 50,” he added.
Proposition 50 has the potential to spark a political backlash, not just among California Republicans or independents in 2026, but on a national scale during the 2028 presidential election.
If Proposition 50 passes, Northern California districts risk going from mostly red to completely blue after the midterm elections.

Downtown Chico, California. (Amalia Roy)
Chico, California, is located in the Republican-controlled District 1, represented by Rep. Doug LaMalfa. It is one of the districts targeted by Proposition 50. The proposed map would likely change the district by attracting voters closer to the more Democratic-leaning Bay Area.
In 2024, President Donald Trump won Butte County by about 3,000 votes over then-Vice President Kamala Harris. On the streets of downtown Chico, that political divide was on display when voters asked their opinion on Proposition 50.
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Don Tarman and Martin Bettencourt said they support the proposal, adding that it is a reaction to Trump’s presidency.
“We agree with Gavin Newsom that Trump is trying to influence the House races. He supposedly got five votes in Texas. We’ll see how the votes turn out when we get to the election. But yeah, we’re not Trump fans. I think Gavin Newsom is trying to fight back a little bit,” Tarman said.
Bettencourt said he doesn’t normally support redistricting, but this is “a different time.”
“I don’t like redistricting. I think it’s bad for voters. I think it takes power away from them, because they move it around and tweak it,” he said. “I think we’re in a different time, so we’re reacting from the top of the list, which is the president, and we have to do what we have to do to offset that until we get someone better in a position of power.”

A ballot box located outside the Butte County Library, Chico Branch. (Amalia Roy)
Jim Henderson and Eleanor Engelbrecht are among those who disagree with the proposal; both say redistricting in California is not an ideal response to efforts in Texas.
“When we say they do it in Iowa, do we have to make Oregon do the same thing and the next thing we know everything is being rigged? It’s unfortunate that the governor of Texas didn’t recognize that this was not an appropriate way to approach the election, but he made his decision, and I don’t think we should feel obligated to say, well, if you’re going to do it, we’re going to do it too,” Henderson said.
Engelbrecht said the country is going through enough changes that things need to just “settle down.”
“Right now, we’re already going through a lot of change, and I don’t think this is the time where we need to, I don’t know, dust and clean up. I think we really need to let things settle down. I think in the current situation in our country there’s already a lot of division, and I really think this comes down to advocating for fair elections,” he said.
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If Proposition 50 passes, there will likely be a legal battle. California Republicans are already filing lawsuits against the measure.