A three-judge panel in Los Angeles federal court Wednesday ruled against California Republicans in their bid to nullify the new congressional map California voters approved in November.
In their lawsuit, filed one day after California voters approved Proposition 50, Assemblyman David Tangipa, R-Fresno, the California Republican Party and a group of Republican voters — joined by the U.S. Department of Justice — urged judges to block the new district lines at least temporarily so California’s original map would stay in effect for the 2026 midterm elections.
Proposition 50 was passed after Republicans in Texas redrew their congressional map, a move California leaders said was designed to favor Republicans in the upcoming midterms.
The suit, which names Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber as defendants, argues that the new Proposition 50 maps are unconstitutional because they improperly use voters’ race as a factor in drawing districts and asked the court to block them from taking effect.
The proposition’s passage increases Democrats’ chances of winning five additional U.S. House seats in the state next year and seizing control of the chamber.
Republicans had asked the court for a preliminary injunction blocking the maps from being used in 2026.
State Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, posted on X that Wednesday’s ruling against the Proposition 50 challenge “is deeply troubling.”
He said the issues raised in the lawsuit “remain unresolved and deserve continued attention. The architect of these gerrymandered maps has publicly stated that he purposely drew them to favor one minority group over another to gain five more congressional seats for California Democrats. That is a NO-NO as it violates the Voting Rights Act by using race as a factor in drawing district boundaries.”
In its 2-1 decision, the court upheld the new congressional districts, rejecting plaintiffs’ claims that the maps had been drawn to favor Latino voters over other voting groups.
Judge Josephine Staton, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote the ruling, with Judge Kenneth Lee, a Trump appointee, dissenting. Joe Biden appointee Judge Wesley Hsu joined Staton in her ruling.
“We find that Challengers have failed to show that racial gerrymandering occurred, and we conclude that there is no basis for issuing a preliminary injunction,” Staton wrote. “Our conclusion probably seems obvious to anyone who followed the news in the summer and fall of 2025.”
The ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by the California Republican Party and the Trump administration.
Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 in November, which supporters dubbed “The Election Rigging Response Act.”
Proposition 50 establishes new congressional district maps for the 2026 midterm elections that will also be used for the 2028 and 2030 elections. An analysis by the election news website Ballotpedia said it would shift five Republican-held congressional districts to Democrats.
Democrats already hold a 43-9 advantage in the state’s House delegation.
“Republicans’ weak attempt to silence voters failed,” Newsom said in a statement Wednesday. “California voters overwhelmingly supported Prop. 50 — and that is exactly what this court concluded.”
We don’t need Illegals voting with illegal printed Chinese ballots. This is Democratic party siding with Chinese Communism.