The far-outnumbered California Republicans are facing an internal crisis as the reality that they will be represented in Congress by anti-Trump Democrats emerged after the passing of Governor Gavin Newsom’s redistricting Proposition 50, the LA Times writes. This proposition, also known as the “Election Rigging Response Act,” was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on the special election ballot on November 4, that was widely approved by voters.Prop. 50 replaced the existing maps drawn by the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission with the new, legislature-drawn maps for elections from 2026 through 2030. It also included a provision establishing state policy to support nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide.”California Republicans, far outnumbered by those on the left, for years have felt ignored in a state where Democrats reign, and the passage of Proposition 50 only adds to the sense of political hopelessness,” says LA Times writer Dakota Smith.Joy Miedecke, who runs the largest Republican club in the Coachella Valley, which has “long been a magnet for conservative retirees and vacationers, including former Republican presidents,” worked hard to defeat Prop. 50 to no avail.”The Democrats get their way because we don’t have enough people,” Miedecke says of her party’s struggles in California.Voters in that area backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, the Times says. But under Prop. 50, “some or all of those areas will move to a congressional district led by Democrat Raul Ruiz, an emergency room physician raised in the Coachella Valley, or join with left-leaning San Diego County suburbs in a new meandering district specifically crafted to favor Democratic candidates.”Miedecke, 80, is depressed and blames the Republican Party for failing to raise enough money to defeat Prop. 50, but sees a speck of optimism, saying, “The party is at the bottom,” Miedecke says. “It’s at the very bottom. We have nowhere to go but up.”Fellow Republican Kay Hillery, 89, agrees, saying, “I am ashamed of the Republicans for not getting out the vote.”Today’s The Coachella Valley, however, “is now a political patchwork, home also to the Democratic havens of Palm Springs and Cathedral City and divided towns of Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert,” Smith writes.Following Tuesday’s election, heavily Republican Indian Wells will lose its Republican representative, Ken Calvert, and become part of the newly drawn district that reaches into San Diego County, the Times explains.“Conservatives deserve to have their voices heard, not be drowned out by partisan moves to advance a one-sided political agenda,” said Calvert in a statement.Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC and UC Berkeley says that ‘the California Republican Party hasn’t done meaningful statewide work since then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger left office.”“They decided many years ago that they just weren’t going to engage seriously in state politics anymore,” Schnur says.Indian Wells Republican Peter Rammer, 69, who voted against Prop. 50 is very unhappy, but while he blames California Democrats for some things, most of his blame lies with the man he voted for.”“There’s just so much turmoil, it’s crazy. But Trump — the guy I voted for — causes a lot of it,” Rammer says.
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