The Tulare County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to oppose California’s Proposition 50 in a 4-0 vote, with Supervisor Eddie Valero absent, at their October 14 meeting.
Supervisors Pete Vander Poel, Amy Shuklian, Larry Micari and Dennis Townsend voted to adopt the resolution.
Currently, California has a non-partisan commission to draw congressional districts with heavy input from communities. If Prop 50 passes, a map with new congressional districts drawn by the legislature would last through 2030, after which the process of drawing districts would revert back to the redistricting commission.
The proposition, also known as the “Election Rigging Response Act,” would allow the adoption of maps that potentially swing five Republican seats in the House of Representatives to Democrats and provide greater Democratic advantages in other seats.
Opponents have called the proposition a power grab by Democratic legislators that wastes taxpayer funds, while proponents claim the move is a necessary response to efforts in Republican-led states like Texas, Florida, Ohio, and others, that aim to unseat Democratic lawmakers through similar map changes.
Democrats currently need three seats to win control of the House of Representatives in 2026 – leading to similar discussions of map changes by Democratic governors in Illinois, New York, and Maryland.
“Republicans have more opportunities across the map to gerrymander House districts than Democrats,” according to an ABC News analysis. “In most states where Democrats are in control of the statehouse and governor’s mansion, there are legal and constitutional barriers to revisiting their maps in the middle of the decade as a result of previous efforts to install independent commissions and, in some cases, prior state court rulings.”
The Board of Supervisors, in their individual comments, agreed with the opposition to Prop 50.
“The only reason we are being asked to play these political games is because our governor has presidential aspirations. He is not looking out for the people but his own well-being and his own future,” Vander Poel, the Chair of the Board of Supervisors, said.
Staying neutral versus taking a stand
Valero was not present for the vote but gave the Valley Voice a statement after the meeting.
“I believe we should remain focused on our core responsibilities as a nonpartisan Board of Supervisors. These responsibilities include roads, streetlights, infrastructure, and public safety. Our residents expect us to deliver results and not spend taxpayer dollars and staff time on issues outside the scope of our role,” Valero said. “My priority has always been good governance and serving the people of Tulare County with integrity and fiscal responsibility.”
Valero also wanted to clarify a statement made by Micari during the meeting.
“It was claimed that I did not support the 2020 redistricting process. That is simply untrue. The public record and meeting recordings clearly show that I praised the process multiple times from the dais then and I do so now,” he said.
In her comments at the meeting, Shuklian struck a similar tone to Valero.
“I’m disappointed because this is an extremely partisan issue and that we, as a non-partisan board, are bringing this forward and making a political statement. This is not good for our constituents, or our county, or the look of the board,” she said.
But Shuklian added that she did not agree with allowing the legislature to rewrite the districts.
Micari said that he does not see the board’s vote to oppose Prop 50 as partisan at all.
“I see it as the right thing to do,” he said. “It’s a huge waste of time and resources that we are paying for and its not fair that our constituents get stuck with the bill. This is because someone wants to run for president. That’s what it boils down to.”
Townsend added he objected to the fact that the authority to redraw the districts would be given to one person. He added that the districts are already drawn in the event Prop 50 passes.
“One person drew it so that’s very, very anti-democratic,” said Townsend.
Porterville Vice-Mayor Ed McKervey gave a public comment encouraging the board to oppose Prop 50.
“It’s just political brinksmanship,” he said. McKervey was also opposed to the state allegedly spending $350 million to get the proposition on the ballot.
Jim Reeves, a Visalia resident, said he preferred the supervisors to stay neutral on the issue – and, if not, to encourage their constituents to vote for Prop 50.
Reeves did not think it was fair for President Trump “to change the rules in the middle of the game” and added that ”it’s entirely appropriate for California to respond and let the people vote on it.”
How are other counties reacting?
With few surprises, conservative county boards are voting to oppose the proposition and liberal counties’ boards are voting to support Prop 50.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted to oppose Prop. 50 in a 3-1 vote, with one supervisor abstaining. Boards in Siskiyou, Yuba and Shasta voted unanimously to issue a statement of opposition to Proposition 50. Congressmember Doug LaMalfa represents those three counties and is one of the targets of California’s redistricting.
One outlier is San Joaquin County – whose supervisors voted to stay neutral.
A CBS Sacramento report stated that the San Joaquin County board voted a resolution to oppose Prop 50 down in a 3-2 vote.
“It sends a message to people that you know, that this is a divided question and divided issue, and how do we do it? We have to let the voters do it,” Democratic Supervisor Paul Canepa told CBS Sacramento. “At the end of the day, people need to get out and vote and vote their preferences. I don’t agree right now that San Joaquin County needs to get in the middle of this because you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
Who does Prop 50 target specifically?
Prop 50 targets five vulnerable Republicans and boosts Democrats in difficult races to retain their seats in the 2026 election.
The five targeted Republicans are Doug LaMalfa, whose district is close to the Oregon border (CA-01), Kevin Kiley who represents the Eastern Sierra (CA-03), Kevin Calvert representing Inland Empire (CA-41), Darrell Issa who represents Eastern San Diego (CA-48), and David Valadao (CA-22) representing Kings, Kern, and Fresno Counties as well as parts of Tulare County.
Valadao’s is one of the rare swing districts in California, where he has consistently beats the odds even with a majority of registered Democrats. He once lost once to Democrat TJ Cox in 2018 – characterized by some as voters’ reaction to his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act – but he later won his seat back in 2020.
Three of the five Democrats who would receive a boost from the redrawn maps are in the Central Valley; Josh Harder who represents San Joaquin County, Adam Gray who represents the Merced area and local representative Jim Costa.
To flip Republican seats, Prop 50 would take votes away from Democrats in districts with a large margin of victory. It is anticipated that Democratic candidates in those districts would still easily win their election.
How to vote
The special election is November 4. There are no other statewide elections on the ballot.
According to the Tulare County Registrar of Voters, ballots were mailed October 6. Voters can return their ballot by mail (no postage needed) or drop it off at any official ballot drop box location.
The registrar of voters is warning that if you mail your ballot on November 4, even before the collection time, it will not be postmarked until the next day.
On Election Day voters can drop their ballot off at one of Tulare County’s 15 ballot drop boxes – open 24/7 until 8:00 PM on Election Day – or at any of the 40 polling places open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.