Supporters are way ahead in fundraising for Newsom's Prop. 50, but the race remains close
As voters face a Nov. 4 deadline to turn in their ballots, California’s redistricting fight has reached a pinnacle as both sides pour tens of millions of dollars on their final push to persuade and mobilize voters. The Yes side has largely outraised and outspent its opponents, pulling in nearly $97 million — more than double the No side’s haul of $42 million — and garnered far more big names to appear in its ads.
Still, recent polling shows the race remains close, and persuasion in the final weeks is critical for both sides. While opponents of Prop. 50 are going all-in on a good governance message and playing on most voters’ unease with politicians drawing their own districts, supporters of the measure are doubling down on anti-Trump rhetoric. And both campaigns are trying to turn out Latino voters, a key constituency that could swing the election.
A survey from the nonpartisan Cook Political Report earlier this month found that although 50% of registered voters said they would support Prop. 50 and 35% said they would oppose it, nearly half of those surveyed indicated they were undecided or only softly committed to their vote. The poll included 918 registered voters with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
There’s still plenty of time to sway voters, especially those who are just now tuning into the fact that an election is happening. If voters approve Prop. 50, California would temporarily adopt gerrymandered maps drawn by Democrats through 2030 and suspend the ones drawn by an independent citizens redistricting commission just four years ago. The ballot question informs voters that California’s redistricting is a direct response to Texas Republicans’ decision to redraw their district lines mid-decade.
https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/10/proposition-50-spending/
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