LOS ANGELES, US : Californians go to the polls Tuesday in a ballot likely to further tilt the liberal state toward the Democrats, as the party seeks to neutralize gerrymandering ordered by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Governor Gavin Newsom and his allies want voters to approve a temporary re-drawing of electoral districts that would give the Democratic Party five more seats in the scramble for control of the US Congress in next year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n
They say they are only doing it to level the playing field after Texas Republicans pushed through their own redistricting \u2014 under White House pressure \u2014 to help maintain a narrow Congressional majority that has so far given Trump carte blanche.<\/p>\n
Republicans say it is a naked power grab that will disenfranchise the party\u2019s voters in California, a state where they are heavily outnumbered by Democrats.<\/p>\n
The vote is \u201ca political ink-blot test,\u201d Los Angeles Times columnist Mark Barbarak wrote Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA reasoned attempt to even things out in response to Texas\u2019 attempt to nab five more congressional seats. Or a ruthless gambit to drive the California GOP to near-extinction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat many California voters see depends on, politically, where they stand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Electoral districts across the US are traditionally drawn following the national census taken every ten years, theoretically so the electoral map reflects the people who live there.<\/p>\n
In reality, most boundaries are party political decisions, so whichever grouping is in power at the time gets to set the rules for the next decade\u2019s contests.<\/p>\n
California did away with such partisan gerrymandering under former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, giving the power instead to an independent panel.<\/p>\n
If \u201cProposition 50\u201d passes on Tuesday, politically drawn boundaries will take effect for all elections until the next census, when the panel will once again determine the maps.<\/p>\n
Like almost everything in US politics at the moment, one figure looms over Tuesday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cStick it to Trump on November 4th,\u201d booms one of the largest advertising campaigns.<\/p>\n
The accompanying TV commercial has an irate Trump gorging on fast food as he hate-watches the imagined election result, jabbing at his TV control as he mutters about his victimhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Democrats don\u2019t get dirty and get in the mud with the Republicans to fight back, we\u2019re going to get run over,\u201d 61-year-old contractor Patrick Bustad told canvassers in Los Angeles last week.<\/p>\n
Trump \u201cwants to be a dictator, not a president,\u201d said Bustad, recalling how the Republican refused to concede the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Opponents of Proposition 50 have their own bogeyman.<\/p>\n
Newsom \u201cwants it his way so he can rig it,\u201d retiree Paula Patterson told AFP in the oil-producing town of Taft last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Democrats are going to take over, and we\u2019re not going to have any rights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Polls predict the initiative will pass handily \u2014 offering Newsom high-profile proof of his willingness to stand up to Trump.<\/p>\n
For a man widely expected to take a run at the White House in 2027, that would be very helpful.<\/p>\n
The telegenic governor has already begun projecting an air of confident authority, with his campaign largely winding up a week before the ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can stop donating,\u201d he told supporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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