Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s (D-CA) slick style, celebrity swagger, and unabashedly liberal politics have given California Republicans a villain to go after over the years.
But now, those same traits, plus a very public pushback against President Donald Trump‘s policies, have turned him into a Democratic superstar with a national spotlight and social media megaphone. That has opponents of his redistricting fight scrambling to find the best way to push back on Proposition 50, the measure on California’s Nov. 4 ballot that would allow the redrawing of congressional districts to favor Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
If passed, the new map could net Democrats up to five House seats in Congress. The mid-decade redraw was in direct response to Trump pressing Texas and other red states to change their maps to give Republicans a higher headcount to cement his power in the U.S. House of Representatives during his last two years in office.
At the California Republican Party convention over the weekend, there was a split among Republican opponents of Proposition 50 on how to tackle Newsom’s role in it. In strategy sessions and training seminars, some GOP leaders wanted to focus the fight solely on the map, cutting out the governor’s outsize influence on the ballot measure.
“I don’t think this is about Gavin Newsom. This is what he wants to do, but this is about Californians,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin told reporters. She said the party would run a get-out-the-vote operation, educating Republicans about how the new map would take away their right to choose who represents them.
“We’re going to make sure that fine print is in bold letters and people see what exactly they’re voting for and that they’re not fooled again by the Democratic Party,” she added.
Orange County Republican Party Chairman Will O’Neill also backed the approach, stating that the party’s most effective talking point in defeating Proposition 50 would be to show voters the new partisan map. He encouraged delegates to find the most “absurd” changes in their communities and then post them on social media for maximum exposure.
O’Neill believes Republicans need to broaden their reach beyond just criticizing Newsom and discuss the detrimental effects the new map could have.
“Whether the person likes Donald Trump or Gavin Newsom isn’t really the issue,” O’Neill told Cal Matters. “If this is a straight Republican vs. Democrat election, we lose.”
Johanna Lassaga, chairwoman of the Yuba County Republican Central Committee, had nonpartisan black and yellow signs, featuring language (“No on 50: Defend Fair Elections”) with no mention of Newsom. She said leaving Newsom’s name out might attract independents who are willing to come out for the special election and vote to keep the map drawn by an independent redistricting commission the voters approved more than a decade ago.
But not everyone thinks that is the best strategy.
Former California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson is leading one of the campaigns against Proposition 50 but has zeroed in on Newsom’s association with it. Patterson’s group is No On 50 — Stop Newsom’s Power Grab. She is gambling on the frustration residents feel over Newsom treating his governorship like a stepping stone to the White House and claiming an anti-Newsom sentiment will “turn out Republicans.”
She said linking Newsom to Proposition 50 as often as possible reinforces the idea of “the corruption and those backroom deals when Sacramento politicians have that type of power” to draw their own districts and choke off any representation California conservatives have in Congress.
“It’s a sense of justice. I think people get really fired up about it,” Patterson said. “We’re going to make sure the rest of the country sees that even Californians aren’t falling for his lame vanity project here.”
Republican Assemblyman David Tangipa also believes tying Newsom to redistricting will go a long way with voters.
“He’s not running a redistricting campaign,” Tangipa said. “He’s running an anti-Trump campaign.”
That is exactly how Newsom is playing his hand. He has framed the fight as a battle between good and evil, democracy and authoritarianism, himself and Trump.
Newsom, who is heavily rumored to be a 2028 Democratic presidential contender, has argued that California map changes were essential to saving democracy. Trump, who is deeply unpopular in the progressive state, is featured prominently in Newsom’s campaign for Proposition 50.
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In California, Newsom and Trump were unpopular figures heading into 2025, but public support for Newsom has grown among Californians.
A poll from the University of California, Irvine’s School of Social Ecology showed a dramatic jump in the governor’s approval rating, which pollsters say was directly after the state’s standoff with the Trump administration over Trump’s federalization of the National Guard in response to protests in Los Angeles. In June, 38% of Californians approved of the overall job Newsom has done as governor. Jon Gould, the poll director and dean of the school, said they asked voters the same question after Newsom’s fight with Trump, and his approval rating soared to 56%. Newsom is also polling better nationally.
A Yahoo-YouGov poll of 1,690 adults found that Newsom’s net approval rating is minus 9, while Trump’s approval rating is minus 14. The poll was conducted between Aug. 29 and Sept. 2 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.