Prop 50: California redistricting fight would merge counties worlds apart

"Modoc, tucked into the state's remote northeast corner, lacks a single traffic light. Many of its 8,500 residents once lost internet service after squirrels chewed through a fiber-optic cable. Ranchers fear wolf attacks on cattle. Tech-industry wealth, meanwhile, has transformed Marin from a bohemian refuge outside San Francisco into one of California's richest communities. Traffic regularly jams the freeway into the city, and residents fight over efforts to build more homes."

"Newsom and his fellow Democrats want to redraw California's congressional district maps - and change the balance of power in Washington, DC. They've asked voters to approve a ballot measure in November that would temporarily take control of the maps away from an independent commission and give it to the state legislature, dominated by Democrats. Proposed maps already released would combine sparsely populated Republican communities like Modoc with deep-blue cities and suburbs, such as Marin. Democrats could win as many as five additional seats."

Marin and Modoc counties illustrate stark economic and political contrasts within California, with Marin affluent and densely connected, and Modoc remote, sparsely populated and infrastructure-poor. Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders propose Proposition 50 to shift temporary control of congressional redistricting from an independent commission to the state legislature. Proposed maps would pair rural Republican areas with coastal Democratic strongholds, potentially flipping up to five seats to Democrats. The move responds to Republican-led redistricting efforts in other states and follows a broader national trend of parties seeking favorable maps. Officials describe the measure as a way to influence control of Congress and counter Republican strategies.

Read at The Mercury News