Gavin Newsom spent hundreds of millions of dollars that California doesn’t have when he passedProposition 50to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts, drawing Republicans out of office.
Then hebacked an effort in Virginiato do the same — even though “moderate” Democrat Abigail Spanberger had made a specific campaign promise last year not to gerrymander the districts.
On Friday, Virginia’s Supreme Courtstruck down the state’s new map, which would have taken an evenly divided congressional delegation (six Democrats, five Republicans) and skewed it 10-to-1 for Democrats.
But here’s where Democrats really lost.
Newsom cast Proposition 50 as a response to an effort to redraw thecongressional map in Texasto favor Republicans by eliminating several Democrat-held seats.
Never mind that the Department of Justice had advised that those Texas seats, drawn specifically to represent racial minorities, were likely unconstitutional.
Newsom used the opportunity to do what Democrats have long wanted to do in California, and threw out the independent redistricting commission (temporarily, he says) in favor of a partisan process controlled entirely by the dominant party.
He didn’t even wait for the Texas legislature to vote on its map before moving Proposition 50 forward.
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After California voters passed Proposition 50, the sides were even. Texas had likely eliminated four Democrat seats; California had likely eliminated the same number. That should have led to a truce.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
