Shawn Griffiths
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Proposition 50, the special election measure in California to adopt a new legislative-drawn congressional map, is becoming the most controversial ballot measure in recent history – and it is attracting more than just attention.
It has also opened the floodgates to big money from high-profile megadonors.
The New York Times was first to report that George Soros recently contributed the single-highest donation to the Prop 50 campaign so far: $10 million, which adds to the already $40+ million donated to the campaign.
For a time, Yes on 50 and its opposition were practically neck-and-neck in contributions. However, according to numbers compiled by Ballotpedia, Soros’ donation has now tipped the scales considerably.
Soros has also brought the total money count close to the $100 million mark. The bulk of contributions for the No on Prop 50 campaign has come from California businessman, experimental physicist, and election reform advocate Dr. Charles Munger Jr.
Munger was involved in the 2008 and 2010 campaigns to adopt the independent commission that took redistricting out of the hands of elected officials – something Prop 50 would circumvent.
And for the record, the total amount contributed for and against the commission in 2010 was $20.77 million (a drop in the bucket by today’s standards).
The California Constitution explicitly prohibits partisan and legislative gerrymandering. However, Prop 50 would amend the state constitution to allow for what has been pitched as a one-time-only exception to nullify a mid-decade gerrymander in Texas.
The goal: Just as Texas Republicans are trying to secure five additional seats for the GOP ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, California Democrats are trying to take five seats away from Republicans with their new proposed map.
Some districts would see dramatic shifts in partisan advantage, like CA-1 held by U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, which could go from R+25% (based on 2024 election results) to a projected D+12% based on how people within the new boundaries voted for president.
Then, in 2031, the independent redistricting commission would redraw the congressional map, following what has become the standard procedure in California.
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Soros’ involvement is likely to make what has already been a deeply partisan issue even more so, as he is treated as a common “boogeyman” in Republican and conservative circles.
The entirety of the California Democratic Party, its members in the legislature, Gov. Gavin Newsom (who proposed the plan), the state’s biggest labor unions, former President Barack Obama, former VP Kamala Harris, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi all support Prop 50.
On the “no” side are the Republican Party, its members in the legislature, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Asm. Carl DeMaio’s Reform California, former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and several business organizations.
There are a few notable examples of high-profile individuals crossing party lines – few, but not zero.
In an op-ed for CalMatters, Democrat Jeanne Raya urges Californians to reject Prop 50. Raya served as the independent redistricting commission’s first chair, and while she says she would celebrate gains for her party, this isn’t the right way to go about it.
“[I]t can’t be at the expense of California’s Constitution – nor its voters who mandated fair, nonpartisan redistricting,” she writes.
Newsom said the move by Texas Republicans justifies a retaliatory strike. But we witness daily the chaos and mistrust created by revenge politics in Washington. That is not the model of responsible government Californians deserve. Nor do Californians want to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to gamble that different congressional districts will produce the sought-after change, while real problems remain unaddressed.”
Raya did not spare her contempt for mid-decade redistricting in Texas, either, calling it “an attempt to rig the 2026 election in favor of Republicans – at the behest of President Donald Trump.” But she also says “Newsom should look for a different response to redistricting warfare.”
She points to U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley’s bill to ban mid-decade congressional redistricting as an example.
Newsom says Democrats can take back Congress if the American people are given a fair chance, a voice, and a choice. In California, the people already have that chance, and it’s the independent redistricting commission,” Raya writes.
Her op-ed was published shortly after Schwarzenegger condemned Prop 50 during a forum at the University of Southern California, stating that Newsom and California Democrats are “trying to fight for democracy by getting rid of the democratic principles of California.”
It also came shortly after the United Domestic Workers (UDW) – one of the largest unions in California – pledged its support for Prop 50, and promised a robust campaign to get voters to support it as well.
According to UDW, it launched a massive canvassing campaign in San Diego County on September 20.