Fairmind

California Proposition 50 of 2025: Official Voter Guide Arguments, Annotated

California’s official voter guide includes arguments and rebuttals for and against Proposition 50. The guide warns that the arguments have not been checked for accuracy. So that’s what we did. Here is what you should know.

By Steve Krause
October 26, 2025
4 minute read

You’ve Been Warned

In California’s Official Voter Guide for Proposition 50 of 2025, the “Arguments and Rebuttals” page warns:

Arguments printed on this page are the opinions of the authors and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency.

This policy protects free speech but leaves voters with the problem of determining what is true.

In researching our fair-minded guide for California Proposition 50 of 2025, we checked both sides’ claims in the arguments and rebuttals. Turns out that both sides twisted the truth in various ways, documented below.

What We Did and Didn’t Address

We focused on statements that are materially misleading. By this we mean statements that are so false or misleading they could affect how someone votes.

We did not focus on:

“Yes on 50” Claims

Preserving Independent Redistricting

In multiple places, “Yes on 50” claims Prop 50 “preserves” or “reaffirms” independent (nonpartisan) redistricting in California—including in this summary statement:

Vote YES on Prop. 50. Protect democracy, preserve nonpartisan redistricting and ensure a fair election in all 50 states.

“Preserve nonpartisan redestricting“ is misleading because if you vote “Yes,” you are actually suspending nonpartisan redistricting until after the 2030 elections. If you vote “No,” you are preserving nonpartisan redistricting the entire time.1

While Prop 50 resumes the independent commission’s authority after 2030, and includes a statement of support for independent redistricting nationwide, the core difference between “Yes” and “No” is, “Yes” suspends independent redistricting, and “No” does not.

Fair Maps

Prop. 50 draws fair maps that represent California’s diverse communities and ensure our voices aren’t silenced by partisan gerrymandering in other states.

Prop. 50’s maps are not fair in the normally expected sense for redistricting. They are deliberately partisan, designed to favor Democrats in response to Republican gerrymandering in Texas.2

“Yes on 50” supporters may argue that counter-gerrymandering is justified in pursuit of national fairness, but that does not make the Prop 50 maps themselves fair.

Charles Munger Jr.

WARNING: NO ON 50 IS BACKED BY TRUMP EXTREMISTS.

Who’s spending millions against Prop. 50?

An anti-choice mega-millionaire named Charles Munger Jr. who wants to help Donald Trump and Red State Republicans rig the 2026 elections and hand Trump unchecked power for two more years.

Except for the fact that Charles Munger Jr. is the largest financial backer of “No on 50,”3 this characterization is highly misleading:

Putting Politicians Back in Charge

Lie #3: “Prop. 50 puts politicians back in charge of drawing their own districts.”

Untrue. Prop. 50 puts power to approve emergency maps in the hands of voters, not politicians.

The original statement, which “Yes on 50” called “Lie #3,” is actually more correct: Prop 50 would temporarily put politicians and their consultants in charge of drawing maps.8 The fact voters can choose to reject Prop 50 does not change that.

Executive Actions

We have already seen how Trump has recklessly imposed tariffs and hurt California families, denied disaster assistance to fire victims, and ordered mass arrests without warrants. The 2026 election for Congress represents our only chance to provide an essential check and balance on Trump’s dangerous agenda.

The “Yes on 50” campaign lists these actions in a way that implies Democratic control of the House will stop them. But they are all executive actions, which Trump undertook without legislation or congressional approval.9

So if Prop 50 helps Democrats win the House, they will be able to block Trump’s legislative agenda (bills akin to the Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025) but not executive actions like the above.

“No on 50” Claims

Temporary

In several places, “No on 50” alludes to Prop 50 not being temporary, including:

Make no mistake: Prop. 50 is not temporary.

Prop 50 is temporary. It suspends the independent redistricting commission’s authority for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections, then automatically reinstates it.10

Minority Representation

[With the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s maps], women in the Legislature doubled, Asian representation tripled, Black representation nearly doubled, and Latino seats grew by 8%.

Prop. 50 is not about the California state legislature, where these statistics are from. It only applies to California’s U.S. House seats.11

Impact on Communities of Color

“When politicians gerrymander, they divide our neighborhoods and weaken the voice of communities of color.”
—Reverend Mac Shorty, Civil Rights Leader

An analysis by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California concluded that Prop 50 will not have a significant effect on racial representation compared to the commission’s existing maps.12

It Is Not Your Choice

Don’t be fooled. Legislators drew this map behind closed doors for you to rubberstamp. It is not your choice.

There is a meaningful choice: Voting “No” keeps the commission’s maps, which were created with public input. Voting “Yes” uses the Prop 50 maps, which were created “behind closed doors” for the purpose of countering the mid-decade redistricting in Texas.

Conclusion

It’s understandable why the State of California disclaims any responsiblity for the content of the arguments in its official voter guide. But as should be clear, this invites mischief by advocates.

We hope we were able to help you get a clearer picture. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about our analysis, please let us know.

Footnotes

  1. “The state would use Proposition 50’s maps for congressional elections starting in 2026. The state would use these maps until the Commission draws new district maps, following the 2030 U.S. Census.” (California Legislative Analyst, Proposition 50 Analysis, Official Voter Information Guide for California Statewide Special Election, November 4, 2025) ↩

  2. From an independent elections analyst: “Make no mistake about it: The proposed map is an aggressive Democratic gerrymander.” (Nathaniel Rakich, A Detailed Analysis of California’s (Maybe) New Congressional Map, Inside Elections, August 21, 2025) ↩

  3. As of October 26, 2025, Charles Munger Jr. had donated $32.7 million, more than 70% of all funding, to “No on 50.” (California Proposition 50, Use of Legislative Congressional Redistricting Map Amendment (2025), Ballotpedia, accessed October 26, 2025) ↩

  4. Between 2005 and 2025, Charles Munger Jr. donated nearly $45 million to California ballot-initiative campaigns that sought to promote or protect independent redistricting. (Charles Munger, Jr., Ballotpedia, accessed October 26, 2025) ↩

  5. “‘Munger was always eyed with suspicion by the right-wing, Tea Party types in the party because Munger was a big tent Republican. He knew that a successful party in California had to grow beyond its insignificant base,’ said Rob Stutzman, a California-based GOP strategist who previously worked for Schwarzenegger. ‘Any notion to tie him to carrying Trump’s agenda is, frankly, it’s a lie.’” (Arit John, This reclusive heir is the most powerful foe to Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw California’s maps, CNN, October 6, 2025) ↩

  6. Munger: “If you ask anyone who knows me whether they would describe me as a MAGA anything, they would say, ‘Who are you talking about?’”, (Monica Madden, Billionaire’s son behind “No on Prop. 50” says he’s fighting gerrymandering - not helping Trump, ABC 7 News, October 8, 2025) ↩

  7. Munger contributed more than $158,000 to socially conservative causes over the last 25 years, including to organizations that oppose abortion rights and Christian groups whose leaders have opposed LGBTQ+ rights (Dustin Gardiner and Blake Jones, How Dems are preparing to torch a megadonor fighting CA redistricting, Politico, August 19, 2025). In that same time period, Munger donated nearly $45 million to independent redistricting campaigns (Charles Munger, Jr., Ballotpedia, accessed October 26, 2025). ↩

  8. “Paul Mitchell, a veteran Democratic redistricting expert in Sacramento, and a group of similar consultants drew the map. Mitchell explained in an interview that he took input from California’s Democratic congressional delegation before sending a proposed map to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.” (Jeanne Kuang, Does Prop. 50 divide California communities? Depends how you measure it, CalMatters, October 10, 2025) ↩

  9. Andrew Haffner, Trump’s executive orders: How do they work—and what’s their legal basis?, UChicago News, September, 15, 2025. ↩

  10. “The state would use Proposition 50’s maps for congressional elections starting in 2026. The state would use these maps until the Commission draws new district maps, following the 2030 U.S. Census.” (California Legislative Analyst, Proposition 50 Analysis, Official Voter Information Guide for California Statewide Special Election, November 4, 2025) ↩

  11. Prop 50’s text specifically refer to “congressional” districts, seats, and elections, not other kinds. (Proposition 50: Text of the Proposed Law, California Secretary of State, accessed October 26, 2025) ↩

  12. Eric McGhee, How Would the Prop 50 Redistricting Plan Affect Racial and Geographic Representation?, Public Policy Institute of California, October 8, 2025) ↩