Newsom Goes to War With Trump Over 2026 Midterms

The following is a preview of Daily Signal Politics Editor Bradley Devlin’s interview with Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, on “The Signal Sitdown” to discuss California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting push. The full interview premieres on The Daily Signal’s YouTube page at 6:30 a.m. Eastern on Nov. 6.

California voters greenlit Gov. Gavin Newsom’s war against President Donald Trump for control in the 2026 midterms. 

Voters in California approved of Proposition 50, a ballot measure that allows Newsom and Democrats to take control of redistricting from the state’s independent commission, by an overwhelming margin—nearly 2 to 1. Democrat victory in the Proposition 50 fight, not to mention the other off year elections, is the Left’s strongest sally yet in what has become known as the redistricting wars. Hans von Spakovsky, a Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, joins “The Signal Sitdown” to discuss.

“What Prop 50 does is it temporarily takes away the power from the independent redistricting commission to draw up congressional districts so the Legislature can do it, and they’re going to use that power to redraw the congressional districts,” von Spakovsky told The Daily Signal.

A 2008 referendum first established the independent redistricting commission California voters rejected Tuesday.

“People ought to know that, back in 2008 actually, there was a huge referendum on the ballot to take away the power of redistricting from the state Legislature because they were constantly engaging in really partisan gerrymandering,” von Spakovsky said. “Voters overwhelmingly approved, setting up an independent redistricting commission.”

The 2008 referendum applied to the state Legislature, but another referendum in 2010, which the voters also overwhelmingly approved, broadened the commission’s authority to California’s congressional districts.

Now, Californians have turned their backs on the commission model, thanks to millions pouring in from across the country to prop up Prop 50. “It was like upwards of $80 million that [George] Soros-funded organizations and liberal donors just used to convince the voters to basically overturn what they had done before,” von Spakovsky explained.

Make no mistake, the independent commission was no friend to conservatives. “Even with this independent commission, which was supposed to take politics out, the congressional districts were still gerrymandered,” von Spakovsky explained. “Republicans, I think in last year’s election, got like 38%—close to 40% of the vote went for Trump.” Yet, von Spakovsky pointed out that Republicans won less than 20% of the congressional seats up for grabs.

“[Democrats] want to get rid of even those, so the Republicans don’t have a single congressional seat in the state,” von Spakovsky said of their motivations. “That’s what they’re gonna try to do.”
Newsom’s play for control in the 2026 midterms, von Spakovsky said, “is the height of what you would consider to be anti-democratic action because they’re trying to deny representation to voters in California.”

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