BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Some California voters blasted Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to gerrymander the state, with many telling the Daily Caller News Foundation they wish the governor would stand down.
California Democrats’ proposed gerrymandered House map aims five to flip five House seats in California from Republican to Democratic — and seeks to neutralize Texas’ proposed map that if enacted would likely flip five seats from Democratic to Republican. One of the Republican-held seats being targeted by the Newsom-backed map is California’s 22nd congressional district, which includes part of Bakersfield — where the DCNF spoke with voters on Friday.
“Hell no. I’m against it,” one man told the DCNF about the proposed California map.
“Didn’t the voters already vote against it by 63 percent?” he asked, referring to a recent poll that showed the redistricting effort is deeply unpopular in the state.
“We’ve already got a market on the parties in this country’s state. Just leave it alone. They need to do it fairly,” one other male voter told the DCNF.
The man added that he does not trust the California Citizens Redistricting Commission which California voters had approved in 2010.
“This state is so far gone left,” the voter further added.
California’s current House map — which was drawn by the commission following the 2020 Census — contains 43 seats represented by Democrats and only nine held by Republicans.
“I’m not interested in gerrymandering,” a young adult male answered. “I don’t think we should do it.”
A female voter didn’t even let the DCNF finish the question before answering, “Recall Newsom. We need to get rid of him.”
A 2021 effort to recall Gavin Newsom from office failed by nearly 24 percentage points. However in Kern County, in which Bakersfield is located, roughly 62% of voters backed the effort to recall the governor.
“It’s just a battle of who can be more petty on either side, and I think that’s really all that comes down to. I think that when you look at a politician, they don’t really care what you think,” a young man told the DCNF. “And our voting system is corrupted, and no matter what we say or do about it, it’s not gonna change for the middle class or the lower class. It’s just gonna be the same thing over and over.”
Newsom on Thursday announced a special November election for voters to decide if they want to override the state’s redistricting commission until after the 2030 census in favor of the Democratic-controlled state legislature implementing its partisan map.
“We tried to get even, you know? And it’s not fair. Is it fair what Texas is doing? No. So if they can do it, why can’t we? That’s how I feel,” a man told the DCNF regarding Newsom’s attempt to counteract Texas’ proposed map. “They should leave it alone like how they do it with the census. That’s how they’ve been doing it, so why change it now so you can have more seats in the House? So now we got to get even in California so everything balances out. I think they should leave things alone, honestly.”
A woman repeated the same sentiment to the DCNF, saying, “I think we should just leave it alone.”
However, one voter told the DCNF that California should fight back against Texas, where Democratic lawmakers who had fled the state are returning to Austin to vote on their newly redistricted map.
“It’s good!” the man said. “We didn’t start it, Trump started it in Texas. So you know what? Fight back!”
A man walking with his wife laughed at the DCNF’s question and gave the gerrymandering effort a thumbs down.
A young woman who wasn’t aware of the redistricting effort said, “I’m just going to be voting Republican.”
Meanwhile, a young adult male told the DCNF he finds California’s Republican representatives lack “backbone” in fighting back against the state’s Democratic government.
“I think about most things in California is that whether or not you’re liberal or conservative, we have no healthy opposition,” he said. “Our Republican Party is completely incompetent and it’s like, even on things that I would support them on, it’s like they have no backbone, no anything.”
Two separate women told the DCNF they supported Newsom’s effort to redistrict the state, but did not elaborate much further.
Multiple people approached by the DCNF indicated they were “unfamiliar” or “unaware” with the push to redistrict the state.
One man said, “I need to read up on it, I don’t know.”
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