Post-Election Analysis: California's Proposition 50

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

We look at how California voted on Proposition 50, which would temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democratic candidates. Governor Gavin Newsom and other top Democrats, including Barack Obama, back the measure, calling it a response to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas. We talk to KQED’s politics team about what the results mean for voters across the state and look at the impacts of consequential races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City. Guests: Guy Marzorati, correspondent, KQED's California Politics and Government Desk Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED - co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown Benjamin Oreskes, reporter, New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.7	From KQED. Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. Even after the vote had been called in favor of Prop 50, California voters remained in line last night at some polling places to cast ballots in an election that Democrats framed as a chance to push back on President Trump's agenda beyond Republican redistricting in Texas.
0:52.1	Here's Governor Gavin Newsom, after voters resoundingly approved
0:55.2	redrawing California's congressional map to favor Democrats, calling on other Democrat-led states
1:00.7	to take up a similar effort.
1:02.7	We need the state of Virginia. We need the state of Maryland. We need our friends in New York,
1:09.4	in Illinois, in Colorado.
1:11.5	We need to see other states with the remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things
1:17.3	meet this moment head on as well to recognize what we're up against in 2026.
1:25.3	We look at the potential impact of California's vote and other Democratic wins across the country last night.
1:31.9	With Marisa Lagos and Guy Marzarrotti, correspondence for KQAAD's California Politics and Government Desk.
1:37.6	Hey, Marisa. Hey, good morning. Hi, Guy. How are you?
1:41.6	Hey, good morning. It was a late night.
1:45.3	But Marisa, who also co-hosts political breakdown, tell me first what jumped out of you about how Prop 50 went last night.
1:51.2	Well, I mean, they're still counting votes, right?
1:53.3	So the numbers could change.
1:54.6	But I think this was a even stronger victory coming kind of through the gate than a lot of folks may have expected. So far,
2:02.9	it's outperformed, even where polls found it. Again, still votes to be counted. That could shift.
2:08.1	But I think if you look at the maps of these sort of results, it makes a lot of sense, right?
	...

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