Mark Meuser here. Have you seen the deceptive ads on Proposition 50? Gavin Newsom and his cronies are trying to scare voters by claiming President Trump is a “threat to democracy.” In Newsom’s twisted logic, because Texas had to redraw its districts, California must now do the same. But Gavin isn’t telling you the rest of the story.
Here are the facts:
In the United States, we have the Voting Rights Act. Under this law, mapmakers are required to draw minority-majority districts only when three conditions are met:
The minority population is large and geographically compact enough to form a district.
The minority community votes together with political cohesion.
The majority votes as a bloc in a way that usually defeats the minority’s preferred candidate.
In 1988, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals went further and ruled that two different minority groups could be combined into a “coalition district.” That activist ruling stood for decades.
In 2021, the Texas legislature followed that precedent and drew four gerrymandered coalition districts. Meanwhile, in Galveston County, local officials ignored race and drew fair, compact commissioner districts. President Biden’s Department of Justice sued Galveston, demanding a bizarre racial gerrymander combining Black and Latino residents into a coalition district.
That case went all the way to the Fifth Circuit. This time, the court admitted it had been wrong back in 1988. Applying original intent, the court held that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments prohibit mapmakers from drawing districts where race is the predominant factor. Coalition districts were unconstitutional.
As a result, Texas suddenly had four unconstitutional congressional districts. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice made it clear: fix the maps or face a lawsuit you will lose. Rather than waste taxpayer dollars defending the indefensible, Texas chose to uphold the Constitution. The outcome was simple — once the gerrymanders were gone and compact, constitutional districts were restored, Republicans naturally picked up seats.
That was Texas. California is a different story. There were no court rulings or lawsuits threatening our maps. Yet Gavin Newsom seized power that wasn’t his, unconstitutionally redrew California’s congressional districts, and blamed President Trump as his excuse. Now, California faces years of likely litigation because these new maps appear to violate both the U.S. and California Constitutions.
That’s why I am already preparing the next lawsuit. My clients and I are ready to file in federal court the moment Gavin’s unconstitutional power grab passes. If Newsom insists on ignoring the Constitution, we will meet him in court.
Let’s be clear: California is not holding a special election because President Trump is a threat to democracy. It’s happening because President Biden’s DOJ overreached, lost in court, and Texas fixed its unconstitutional maps.
President Trump is not a threat to democracy. Gavin Newsom is a threat to our Constitutional Republic.
That’s why we must stop him at the ballot box by voting NO on Proposition 50. And that’s why I urgently need your support today.
Together, we can stop Gavin Newsom’s lies, defend our Constitution, and protect the will of the people.
P.S. Read my post exposing Gavin’s false threat and the real story from Texas: And remember: every dollar you give today goes directly toward turning out voters before ballots are cast.