Students, experts weigh in on California redistricting shift
By Dylan Mangahis, November 18, 2025
Prop 50 passed minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m. Nov. 4., meaning voters agreed to temporarily suspend California’s independently drawn congressional district maps.
Supporters said Prop 50 would reinstate fair representation in the U.S. House of Representatives as politicians try to gerrymander in favor of the Republican Party. While critics warned it could concentrate too much power in the legislature, Prop 50 allows the Legislature to draw partisan seats without citizen input, according to the Official California Voter Guide.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, gerrymandering refers to the strategic drawing of district boundaries to increase the likelihood of future electoral success for one or more parties.
Prop 50, according to the Official California Voter Guide, authorizes a temporary change to congressional district maps in response to Texas’s Republicans, passing a map creating five additional congressional seats likely to favor their party according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Political science assistant professor Jarred Cuellar, who voted yes on 50, recognized Trump’s power play through the Texas redistricting.
“Trump asked for the five seats from Texas, and Texas just kinda obliged,” Cuellar said. “And historically, the president’s party does worse in the midterms. So that, along with the Big Beautiful Bill, the writing was on the wall that Republicans weren’t going to do as well.”
Redistricting is a process that takes place every 10 years following the U.S. Census and is intended to ensure each district remains representative of the state’s people as populations shift according to California Legislature’s Nonpartisan Fiscal and Poly Advisor.
When this process is controlled by a state’s legislature, the party in the majority may shape districts strategically to either pack opposition voters into fewer districts or ensure a slight majority of their party’s voters across a greater number of districts, according to the University of California.
California is one of three Democratic states that dominate public policy, alongside New York and Illinois. Republicans dominate Texas, and Florida. Cuellar believes with redistricting, Texas opened the gate, while other Democratic states were waiting on California to get the ball rolling.
“No other Democrat stronghold was willing to step up and take the initiative,” Cuellar said. “We’re seen as the barometer.”
While there are a few candidates in mind who could’ve tipped over the first domino, like Zohran Mamdani, the newly appointed New York mayor, Newsome’s directness was needed to tackle this divide, according to Chaturvedi.
“If Newsom hadn’t stepped up to some sort of leadership around a resistance, would anything have happened?” Chaturvedi said. “I think people were very nervous. Other governors were very nervous.”
As of today, according to the House Press Gallery, Republicans are leading the House by six seats. Chaturvedi is estimating 30 to 40 seats switching hands leading up to the next election.
“I’m of the thinking, based on the election, based on some of the temperature, Trump’s disapproval rates, I think we’re going to see a blue wave next November,” Chaturvedi said.
If it didn’t pass, there would’ve been “an extreme pseudo majority for the Republicans,” according to Cuellar. Cuellar shared every two years, the incumbent party is supposed to lose seats during the midterm elections.
Political science student Deyanira Paola Loza voted yes on 50 in hopes the Democratic party would gain more seats to retain fairness in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It’s also just responding to the changing electorate,” Loza said. “Legislative control aligns better with current political realities and gives Californians more say through our elected representatives about fairness on maps.”
As a full-time student and first-time voter, Loza believes Generation Z holds unforeseen power as long as they educate themselves and make sure to vote.
Loza steers clear of far-left and -right beliefs, going out of her way to fact-check anything that seems “out of line” from either party. Loza believes more voters should educate themselves with a neutral perspective when it comes to hot-button issues like Prop 50.
“The way that I kept in touch (with Prop 50) is I don’t look at social media,” Loza said. “I do my own research. I go to a right-leaning site, like Fox, and go to a Democratic or left-leaning site, such as CNN. If both are saying the same thing, that must be true.”
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, young adults ages 18 to 34 make up 30% of the population, but only 21% of likely voters. However, on Prop 50’s voting day, many poll sites, including the one held at Cal Poly Pomona, reported lines of voters spilling out the doors and wrapping around their buildings.
A dedicated on-campus ballot box was stationed outside the Student Services Building and a polling center was set up in Building 76.
California’s change will take effect next year through 2030, according to CalMatters. According to NPR, other Democratic states, such as New York, Illinois and Maryland, are considering following suit with redistricting.
Feature graphic courtesy of Ballotpedia
