Overview

• California voters decide Nov. 4 whether to pause the independent commission and adopt legislature-drawn congressional maps through 2030, a move Democrats say could net roughly five House seats in response to Texas’s Trump-backed redraw.
• The No on 50 campaign is airing a new Arnold Schwarzenegger ad statewide at roughly $1 million per day, framing the measure as a partisan power grab that undercuts voter-approved independent redistricting.
• Fundraising has surged to about $90 million, with Charles Munger Jr. giving roughly $30 million to defeat Prop 50, George Soros contributing $10 million to support it, and House Majority PAC adding $5 million to the Yes effort.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom and national allies are leaning in, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urging a Yes vote as Democrats argue the proposal is a temporary defense of democracy, while opponents target independents and Democrats wary of ending commission control.
• Ballots begin arriving in about two weeks after the state Supreme Court declined to block the measure, campaigns ramp up turnout operations, candidates float district switches under the proposed lines, and Rep. Kevin Kiley pushes an unlikely federal ban on mid‑decade remaps.