The high-stakes fight over Proposition 50 came home — literally — to Corona and Colton last week.
Supporters and foes of the California redistricting ballot measure fanned out in those cities to knock on doors and speak to voters ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 4, statewide election that could redraw the state’s congressional districts to help Democrats and hinder Republicans in 2026.
RELATED: Prop. 50: Your questions about how to vote in the special redistricting election answered
Mailboxes, social media, radio, TV and lawns are other battlegrounds in a showdown that might determine control of Congress and thwart President Donald Trump’s agenda for the next two years.
If the polls are right, a majority of Californians will vote yes on Proposition 50, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act. But its fate is murkier in the politically purple Inland Empire, which is home to a plurality of Democratic voters but was won by Trump in 2024.
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Santiago Figueroa asks about Proposition 50 while holding a sign from Gustavo Hernandez, of Inland Empire United, in Colton on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. The group supports the measure that would redraw California congressional districts to favor Democrats after Texas lawmakers created GOP-friendly House districts in their state. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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Santiago Figueroa asks about Proposition 50 while holding a sign from Gustavo Hernandez, of Inland Empire United, in Colton on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. The group supports the measure that would redraw California congressional districts to favor Democrats after Texas lawmakers created GOP-friendly House districts in their state. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with California’s other Democratic leaders, scheduled a special election for Proposition 50 after Texas lawmakers — at Trump’s request — redrew their state’s districts to elect more Republicans to the House of Representatives, where the GOP holds a narrow majority.
An independent commission, legally barred from drawing political districts to favor one party, redrew California’s House districts in 2021 to reflect population changes revealed by the 2020 census.
Proposition 50 could give Democrats another five House seats in California. A reddish district representing much of western Riverside County would be erased, while another encompassing Temecula and Murrieta would be redrawn to include a plurality of Democratic voters.
The new boundaries could make it much harder for Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, and San Diego Republican Darrell Issa, who represents Murrieta and Temecula, to win reelection next year. Proposition 50 would return mapmaking powers to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2031.
Predictably, views of the proposition fall along partisan lines.
Democrats argue it’s vital to counter Trump’s attempt to rig the 2026 election and become a dictator, while Republicans denounce Proposition 50 as a Democratic power grab that threatens free and fair elections.
Polling shows a majority of California voters in favor of Proposition 50. Fifty-one percent of voters surveyed by Emerson College in September supported the ballot measure, 34% were opposed and 15% were undecided.
An August poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Governmental Studies found that registered voters backed Proposition 50 by a 48% to 32% margin. In the Inland Empire, 45% supported it, 39% did not and 16% were undecided.
Supporters can probably rely on Los Angeles and the Bay Area — deep blue regions and California’s two biggest population centers — to get the ballot measure over the finish line in November.
Riverside and San Bernardino counties have more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. But the Inland Empire is far from a sure thing for Democrats.
Last year, Trump became the first GOP presidential candidate in two decades to win Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The region is home to some of California’s most conservative politicians, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running as a Republican for governor in 2026.
Since 2020, Republican voter registration has outpaced Democrats in dozens of Inland cities. Latinos, a voting bloc that swung toward the GOP in 2024, make up a majority of Inland residents.
Newsom is one of the faces of the Yes on 50 campaign. That could backfire in Riverside County, which he’s never won while running for governor. The county also was the largest in California to vote in favor of the failed 2021 effort to recall Newsom.
“I believe most Riverside County voters will oppose Proposition 50 because it eliminates fair representation for our region,” Riverside County Republican Party Chairwoman Lori Stone said via email.
A Murrieta city council member, Stone noted that the measure would leave Riverside County with just one member of Congress — Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside — whose district is entirely in the county.
“That is unacceptable for one of the fastest-growing regions in California,” she said.
Riverside County Democratic Party Chair Joy Silver sees it differently.
“Riverside County voters want to have a voice in the federal government,” Silver said via email. “They wonder why the Texas MAGA party and the president are making a power grab.”
“Voters in Riverside County know this is their moment to take a stand for fair representation.”
Local parties and their allies are reaching out to voters to get them to return their mail-in ballots or cast ballots in person by Nov. 4.
This month, the Riverside Republican Women Federated sent more than 2,000 letters as part of a larger statewide campaign urging voters to reject Proposition 50. The group also is sending voters postcards and posting “No on 50” signs in high-visibility areas, group board President Marcelle Williams said.
“As an organization, we want to educate our community,” she said. “For (Democrats) to want to get (Proposition 50) passed, it’ll make it almost impossible for us to get a Republican voted in.”
Inland Empire United is knocking on doors to rally support for Proposition 50.
While the progressive-minded group is proud of the independent redistricting commission’s work, “if people are cheating and undermining the will of the voters across the country, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to level the playing field and make it equitable for everybody,” IE United Executive Director Sky Allen said.
IE United is focused on turning out voters who don’t normally vote in every election, Allen said. Voters, she said, are more aware of the measure now than they were in September.
“Once you spend a second just to clarify (what Proposition 50 is), most of the time people are coming down on the side of supporting it,” Allen added.
Shaun Bowler, a UC Riverside political science professor, thinks Proposition 50’s fate in the Inland Empire will come down to voter turnout and what Democrats think.
Democrats “are probably more torn” about the measure than Republicans because they’re “less keen on partisan districting efforts and more supportive of independent commissions,” Bowler said via email. “So some Democrats are hesitant (to support Proposition 50) as a matter of principle.”
Proposition 50 “could very well pass” in the Inland Empire if the election is like 2018, which saw high turnout and anti-Trump sentiment, Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said via email.
“If turnout rates are lower and the electorate resembles the (2021 Newsom) recall election, then Prop. 50 may very well fail in the Inland Empire counties,” she added. “So the (Inland) vote on Prop 50 could be very close.”
