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Proponents say voters are motivated by stopping President Trump. Republicans have already begun pointing fingers over lackluster fund-raising and coordination.
Oct. 31, 2025, 2:05 p.m. ET
A small army of union canvassers fanned out across a Los Angeles neighborhood, clad in purple and ready for a challenge.
Four months ago, none of them expected to be here. There was no election on the calendar, and redistricting was something that happened near the start of each decade in California. But here they were, trying to convince voters to support an esoteric measure that was placed on the ballot in August and aimed at redrawing California’s congressional maps.
They turned to a simple pitch: This is your chance to fight back against President Trump.
It wasn’t a hard sell.
California voters are well aware of the role their state is playing in the national redistricting war that began this summer when Mr. Trump asked Texas Republicans to deliver five more seats through gerrymandering.
Ordinarily, campaigns struggle to energize voters for an off-year special election like this one in California. But as the union canvassers found, Democrats here see Proposition 50 as the latest referendum on Mr. Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in the state. If it passes, the measure could help Democrats oust as many as five Republican House members next year in California.
Four days before the election, Democrats are feeling unusually confident in California. Polls show the measure passing by a healthy margin. Trailing in fund-raising by a wide amount, Republicans have all but abandoned the airwaves while Democrats are running ads that feel like something of a victory lap, featuring a who’s who of national party leaders, including former President Barack Obama and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
