California voters approve Proposition 50 allowing partisan redistricting for US House seats

California voters approved Proposition 50 Tuesday night, allowing for a new U.S. House map drawn up by Democrats, with the intent of boosting Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

The AP declared the winner as soon as the polls closed statewide, suggesting it was an overwhelming victory. 

The approval of Governor Gavin Newsom's pet project allows the state’s Democrats to circumvent the independent commission that has controlled the redistricting process in the state for nearly two decades. It is expected to give the state five more U.S. House members. Currently, California has 52 U.S. representatives, and 43 of them are Democrats. 

Charles Munger Jr., the main financial backer of the campaign against Prop 50, called on citizens of the state to ensure it remains temporary.

“For what looms for the people of California, I am saddened by the passage of Proposition 50,” Munger said. “But I am content in this, at least: that our campaign educated the people of California so they could make an informed, if, in my view, unwise, decision about such a technical but critical issue as redistricting reform, a decision forced to be made over such a very short time.”