California Democrats Institutionalized Gerrymandering Long Before Texas

*This article was written by a candidate for Governor of California. The views depicted here do not necessarily reflect those of U Cast Studios or U Cast News.

It began after the 1998 midterms, otherwise remembered as ‘California Massacre’. Republican candidates lost nearly every statewide race, and also took huge hits in the Congressional and State Legislative races. Why this happened has been debated for decades: backlash to Proposition 187; emerging Hispanic and Asian populations in the state; the BRAC base closures earlier in the decade caused unforeseen political paradigms; or perhaps all three led to a perfect storm that gave Democrats a major political advantage.

During the 2000 redistricting at a late-night meeting with Republicans, ‘devil’s bargain’ was made. The two parties agreed to gerrymandered boundaries, which heavily favored Democrats, but maintained the balance of power at that time. Federal and State legislative districts were organized so that they would be dominated by one political party, or the other. Only a handful of districts being considered competitive.

But after the 2006 midterms, the last good election for California Republicans statewide, and several close campaigns that had gone the direction of the GOP. This setup was no longer beneficial for California Democrats and thus had to be changed.

Voters passed Proposition 11 in 2008 calling for an “independent commission” to redraw the legislative district lines. The citizens’ commission had pledged to create districts based on testimony from the communities themselves, not from parties or statewide political players. To get around that, Democrats secretly organized the local base voters, elected officials, labor unions, and community groups to testify in support of configurations that coincided with the Democrat’s interests.

While appearing before the commission, those groups identified themselves as ordinary Californians without disclosing their ties to the party. In one instance, party operatives invented a local group to advocate for the Democrats’ map. California Democrats got almost everything they wanted from the 2010 redistricting cycle. California Republicans were never a factor.

As we come to today, gerrymandering has become an artform in California. Federal and State legislative districts look like something out of a jigsaw puzzle. This has given Democrats supermajorities in both houses of the California Legislature and an unbalanced advantage in the congressional delegation to the House of Representatives. Republicans makeup 25% of the voting population and President Trump earned 38% of the vote in California. Yet Democrats hold 43 of the 52 seats in Congress; or comprise 88% of the delegation.

Which makes the entire dustup with Texas so laughable. Trump won Texas with 56% of the vote. Currently, 25 of the 38 House seats in the state are controlled by Republicans (which means there are 13 Democrat seats). The redistricted Texas is going to add two African-American congressional seats, and one Hispanic seat. At the moment two of Texas’ House seats: CD33 and CD35, are considered the most gerrymandered, and most Democrat, congressional seats not just in Texas but in the entire country.

Democrats and the mainstream media have called the redrawing of their districts a “threat to democracy.” When infact the Democrats institutionalized the scheme to the point that they see it as mere common political practice within blue states. While Republicans were busy licking their wounds from the 2018 midterm ‘ballot harvesting’ kerfuffle, blue states were quietly following California’s lead and redrawing their district lines. Whereas Conservatives, true to form, were not paying attention missed the entire party, and have been playing catchup ever since.

I remember what went down 30 years ago because I was growing here at the time as a Young Republican, a fourth-generation Californian already sweating long summer hours in the family business. I remember the early impacts those Democrat supermajorities had on our family’s business and our way of life, I did not think it could not get any worse. Fast-forward 20+ years, and it has gotten much worse under the reign of Gavin Newsom.

I oppose this childish tit-for-tat behavior, and I have never been a proponent of gerrymandering for in my personal view it is unamerican. As Governor I will oversee the redrawing of fair legislative seats that equates with the state’s population. The current governor is threatening to ‘gerrymander’ the state which has already been gerrymandered, which has led to a new political colloquialism: Newsomandering!

It is time to end this immaturity. California has many real issues that have been ignored and/or mismanaged for way too long. It is time to start behaving like adults again and start tackling these serious problems with the same vigor as we have wasted time pouring into these arguments.

Wouldn’t that be nice for once.

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