Republicans file lawsuit to block Prop. 50 districts; 4 takeaways from Democrats’ big night

WASHINGTON — As the federal shutdown has dragged on to become the longest in American history, President Trump has shown little interest in talks to reopen the government. But Republican losses on election day could change that.

Trump told Republican senators at the White House on Wednesday that he believed the government shutdown “was a big factor” in the party’s poor showing against the Democrats in key races.

Key races in New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia made it clear that energy affordability was on the ballot this election day as Democrats who campaigned on the issue swept the field.

Candidates in the three states campaigned on tackling rising energy costs through renewables, such as wind and solar, or by supporting the Trump administration in promoting fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal.

California Republicans in Congress are vastly outnumbered by their Democratic counterparts in the state — and it may get worse.

Five of the nine GOP seats are at risk after California voters passed Proposition 50 in Tuesday’s special election. The measure, put on the ballot by the Democratic-led state Legislature, reshaped California congressional districts in a way that was specifically designed to unseat Republican incumbents.

NEW YORK — At the top of his victory speech at a Brooklyn theater late Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani — the 34-year-old democratic socialist just elected New York’s next mayor — spoke of power being gripped by the bruised and calloused hands of working Americans, away from the wealthy elite.

“Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it,” he said. “The future is in our hands.”

California voters delivered a major victory for Democrats nationwide Tuesday — and possibly for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political ambitions — by passing a redistricting plan that could help the party seize as many as five congressional seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

The ballot measure, Proposition 50, came under immediate attack by Republicans on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused California Democrats of trying to “rig” the 2026 midterm vote, and the state’s Republican leaders filed a federal lawsuit to block the newly crafted congressional districts that will be enacted under Proposition 50.

One of the great conceits of California is its place on the cutting edge — of fashion, culture, technology, politics and other facets of the ways we live and thrive.

Not so with Proposition 50.

The redistricting measure, which passed resoundingly Tuesday, doesn’t break any ground, chart a fresh course or shed any light on a better pathway forward.

Proposition 50, the ballot measure overwhelmingly approved by California voters, could add up to five Democratic seats in California’s 52-member delegation.

Here’s what this means.

VIDEO | 01:24

Voters approve Prop. 50. What happens next?

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NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday, capping a stunning ascent for the 34-year-old state lawmaker, who was set to become the city’s most liberal mayor in generations.

In a victory for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani must now navigate the unending demands of America’s biggest city and deliver on ambitious — skeptics say unrealistic — campaign promises.

These charts will update periodically as election results roll in to the California secretary of state’s office.

California Democrats’ proposal to redraw congressional districts to stymie President Trump’s agenda was approved by voters on Tuesday.

Proposition 50, one of the most expensive ballot measures in state history, was initially a coin toss when the state Legislature placed it on the Nov. 4 ballot in August. But supporters, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, successfully used the proposal as a visceral way for Trump opponents to push back against the president during an off-year election about the esoteric topic of congressional redistricting.

Newsom and other state and national Democratic leaders argued that boosting their ranks in Congress in the 2026 midterm election would combat Trump’s policies, such as immigration raids, cuts to healthcare and nutrition assistance programs and reduced access to reproductive care.

Under the new congressional districts voters approved on Tuesday, Democrats could gain five seats in California’s 52-member congressional delegation, the largest of any state in the nation. It’s unclear, however, how much the measure will affect the balance of Congress because of redistricting efforts underway in GOP-led states such as Texas.

Polls throughout California have closed, leaving the fate of Proposition 50, the Democratic effort to block President Trump’s agenda by increasing their party’s numbers in Congress after the 2026 election, in the hands of election workers across the state as they tally ballots.

The statewide ballot measure proposed reconfiguring California’s congressional districts to favor more Democratic candidates. The Democratic-led California Legislature placed the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s behest, after Trump urged Texas and other GOP-led states to modify their congressional maps to favor their party members, a move designed to keep the U.S. House of Representatives in Republican control during his final two years in office.

Proposition 50 is the sole item on the statewide, special-election ballot Tuesday. Proponents hoped to turn the ballot measure into a referendum on Trump, who remains extremely unpopular in California, especially after his administration launched immigration raids throughout California, imposed tariffs on imports, sought to dismantle programs intended to protect diversity and equality at colleges and universities, sought criminal indictments against the president’s perceived enemies and took measures to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.

Opponents of Prop. 50 called the measure a power grab by Democrats. They argued that the measure undercut the state’s independent redistricting commission, which voters approved more than a decade ago to provide fair representation to all state residents by weeding partisan politics out of the process of crafting congressional districts.

If the November 2025 election was a referendum on President Trump, the Democrats have a lot to celebrate tonight.

Democratic candidates swept key races:

• Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democratic socialist, beat Trump-endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a historic election for New York City mayor.
  
• Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a 46-year-old Democrat who previously worked as a CIA officer, beat a Republican candidate to become Virginia governor.
  
• Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a 53-year-old former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, has won the race for New Jersey governor, beating back a Trump-backed Republican.

Democrats had been banking on dissatisfaction with Trump over issues like the economy, tariffs and government overreach.

Trump has spent the last few weeks attacking many of the Democrats.

On election eve, Trump warned that a Mamdani win would disrupt the flow of federal dollars to the city and took the dramatic step of endorsing Cuomo over Curtis Sliwa, the Republican in the race.

“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump wrote Monday on his social media platform.

In the New Jersey race, Trump has backed the Republican candidate, former state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli.

“Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World?” Trump recently wrote on his social media site, repeating some of his favorite partisan attacks on Democrats from the presidential campaign trail last year.

Democrats hope Tuesday is a good start in their bid to take back control of Congress in 2026, thus blunting some of Trump’s powers.

CNN exit polling Tuesday “found pessimism and anti-incumbent sentiments,” with some voters said they were trying to send a message to Trump.

Still to come: Proposition 50, the California measure intended to offset GOP gerrymandering in red states after Trump pressed Texas to rejigger maps to shore up the GOP’s narrow House majority.

Long lines twisted around vote centers across L.A. County as time was running out to cast a ballot before polls closed at 8 p.m.

At 7 p.m, with an hour left to vote, around 38% of the county’s 250 vote centers had estimated wait times of at least 46 minutes, according to the county’s map of vote centers. At 55 centers, the estimated wait time was more than one hour.

Those who are in line to vote by 8 p.m. are allowed to remain in line until they have cast their ballot.

“I don’t think I’ve ever waited this long to vote,” said Steve Sanchez, 65, shortly before 8 p.m. as he stood outside the polling center at the Kiwanis Club in Hermosa Beach alongside some 60 other voters.

An election clerk said that about 1,600 people had voted at the center by 4 p.m. Those standing in line said it was among the heaviest turnouts they could remember.

“I’m assuming people are fed up and trying to make a change,” said Sanchez, a Manhattan Beach resident. “With what they did in Texas, we’ve got to even it up in California.”

Kevin Metzger, 67, said he was “really surprised” by the turnout.

“Clearly everyone feels strongly that we should do this — or not,” the Redondo Beach resident said. “It’s certainly inspired people to come out, which is a good thing.”

In Culver City, more than 100 people stood in line to vote at City Hall around 6 p.m. Earlier in the evening, a line of more than 150 people waiting to vote snaked around the Torrance Cultural Arts Center.

Rebecca Delgadillo, 18, voted for the first time Tuesday evening at a polling site in Lomita Park in the eponymous South Bay city.

“It feels good knowing that I have a say in politics,” she said. “Even my one vote can make a difference.”

The sentiment was a breath of fresh air at a polling site that saw long lines of often very opinionated and partisan voters Tuesday.

Jessica Duran, 41, said she believes that the interests of the people are being lost in the national political battles that have divided Americans in recent years.

“I feel like it’s not about the people anymore,” the San Pedro resident said. “It’s a power struggle between the politicians, and people get lost in the mix.”

As Republicans, Duran and her husband, Phil, also 41, voted against Proposition 50.

“I don’t like the proposition. I think California’s gerrymandered a lot as it is,” Phil Duran said. “I want fair representation and I think everyone’s vote should count. So I don’t think changing the lines is a good thing.”

Marcus LaCroix, 42, said he was heartened by the huge turnout at the polling site in Lomita where he cast his ballot Tuesday evening.

“There’s more people today than there were for the presidential election,” he said, gesturing toward the line of dozens of voters snaking its way through Lomita Park.

In Norwalk, a group of stragglers rushed toward a vote center shortly after 8 p.m., clutching mail-in ballots that they were not able to submit.

One pair said they experienced unexpected delays, including a flat tire and heavy traffic.

One woman rushed back and forth from the closed drop-off box to the site’s main doors, negotiating with volunteers, who did not give in to her plea. Defeated, she returned to her car.

A couple of cars shuffled through the lot, hoping they could still cast their vote through any open crevice in the large box, but to no avail. Some left their ballots on top of the box in a symbolic effort to vote.

David Huerta, president of SEIU California, who was injured and arrested during the first day of tumultuous immigration raids in Los Angeles in June, said voter approval on Proposition 50 would serve as “a mandate for a change in politics.”

“This is our opportunity to clap back at this administration and their agenda that has failed us completely,” Huerta said Tuesday evening.

“My arrest and the arrest of many others is really the impetus of the victory we’re going to have at the end of the night when polls close,” Huerta said.

“Overwhelmingly people are saying we’re going in the wrong direction, and the uncertainty this president has created through his agenda is being outright rejected by voters,” he added.

Proposition 50 has widespread backing of labor unions representing California schoolteachers, carpenters, state workers and nurses.

Collectively, these groups have contributed more than $23 million into efforts to pass Proposition 50, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance disclosure reports about donations exceeding $100,000.

The Service Employees International Union alone contributed more than $5.5 million.

“Donald Trump has torn up our collective bargaining agreements, defunded healthcare, eliminated infrastructure jobs, disappeared immigrant workers, and come after everything the Labor Movement stands for,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said in a Tuesday statement. “Working people in California are determined to put a check on this reckless Administration.”

United Domestic Workers of America, which represents some 220,000 dedicated home care and family child care providers across California, said it mobilized en masse, contacting hundreds of thousands of voters through door-knocking, texting and phone calls.

Yolanda Thomas, a Contra Costa County resident and member of UDW, said her support of the measure served as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s cuts to SNAP benefits.

“Representatives should be ashamed of themselves for claiming to care about working families, while literally taking food out of kids’ mouths,” Thomas said, according to a UDW news release. “We need leaders who know the importance of affordable nutrition and will fight to defend it.”

SACRAMENTO — Regardless of all the campaign jabber, Proposition 50 is not about saving democracy, stopping power grabs or veering off the moral high road. It’s about which political party controls Congress.

Or whether Republicans and Democrats share the power.

Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democratic socialist and New York state assemblyman, won the race for mayor of New York City on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, cementing a stunning rise to power in the nation’s most populous city.

Mamdani’s win, despite staunch opposition from both Republicans and some mainstream liberals, echoed his shocking upset over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, in the Democratic ranked-choice mayoral primary race in June, in part because he had to beat Cuomo again after Cuomo threw his hat back in the ring for Tuesday’s general election. On the eve of the election Monday, President Trump had even endorsed Cuomo over Curtis Sliwa, the Republican in the race, in a last-ditch effort to swing votes away from Mamdani.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a 53-year-old former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, has won the race for New Jersey governor, according to the Associated Press, beating back Republican gains in the state to secure an important victory for Democrats nationally.

Sherrill defeated former state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli, a Republican, who had been endorsed by GOP leadership, including President Trump. Polls had shown the race to be a tight one, and prominent Democratic surrogates including former President Obama had gone to New Jersey to stump for Sherrill in recent days.

As dusk fell in Santa Ana, Netty Chow, 56, waited outside the Orange County registrar of voters to cast her ballot.

The sales representative planned to vote against Proposition 50, believing it would disenfranchise some voters. “You’re supposed to have equal representation,” said Chow, who identifies as an independent voter.

But Chow said she blamed California leadership for the state’s high housing costs, homelessness, and other problems. The Laguna Woods resident saw Tuesday’s election as a chance to weigh in on Gov. Gavin Newsom and other leaders.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Orange County ballot-counting center in Santa Ana hummed with activity. In one corner of the warehouse, dozens of workers leaned over desks to peer at envelopes to ensure they had been properly signed.

Nearby, a mechanical lever stretched open the envelopes like clamshells, allowing an assembly line of workers to pluck out the ballots, which were then sorted into an array of trays. Large video monitors posted on the wall captured the activity, allowing observers to watch the proceedings.

Throughout the day, election observers as well as reporters, showed up. Several Orange County sheriff’s deputies also roamed the room.

But no federal election monitors, which the U.S. Department of Justice announced would visit Orange County, had shown up by 5 p.m., according to a county spokesperson.

Elsewhere in Orange County, voters lined up, sometimes around the block, to cast their ballots.

In front of the Buena Park library, cars parked along the grass and in the surrounding neighborhood as the parking lots overflowed.

“You better move quick,” one Buena Park poll attendant admonished the crowd.

Gaurav Jain, 33, said he drove farther away to vote “yes” on Proposition 50 as polling locations in his hometown of La Palma closed early.

As he waited, Jain read Trump’s recent Truth Social statement that called California’s special election “rigged.”

“That’s why I’m voting in the first place,” Jain said, laughing. “To prove that we can fight back on the crazy things Trump says.

“We’re passionate about this because we are seeing the state of this country and everything that’s going on,” Jain said of California voters. “I feel like this is the first chance to make our voice heard since the [presidential] election last November.”

We now have an estimated price tag for California’s special election and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential rollout: $282.6 million.

Voters drove in slow loops through the vast parking lot outside the Torrance Cultural Center after school let out Tuesday, hoping for a spot to open up. More than 150 people were lined up on the sidewalk outside the polling center a few minutes before 4 p.m., all to cast a vote for or against Proposition 50.

Tony Moreno, a 49-year-old educator and Torrance resident, said he “voted no on this nonsense.” He said that, although he believes the proposition will pass given the Democratic bent of California, he still wanted to cast his ballot in opposition.

The Republican added that he felt the debate over the proposition had become too politicized, and that many people were voting for it out of displeasure with President Trump and his agenda, instead of researching the redistricting proposal and making informed decisions about whether they supported it.

Race engine builder and Republican Robert Jung, 69, said he too voted against Proposition 50, as did every one of the more than a dozen other voters The Times interviewed outside the Torrance polling site Tuesday.

“I’d rather see it stay the way it was. The changes are politically motivated,” the Torrance resident said.

“It doesn’t seem right to do this just to gain five seats. I know they did it in Texas, but we don’t have to do it just because they did it.”

Democrats pushing Prop. 50 far out-raised the opposition.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s committee supporting the redistricting measure raised $36.8 million between Sept. 21 and Oct. 18, bringing its total to $114.3 million, according to the report filed with the secretary of state’s office as of last week. It had $37.1 million in the bank and available to spend before the Nov. 4 special election.

The two main opposition groups raised a total of $8.4 million during the 28 days covered by the fundraising period, bringing their total haul to $43.7 million. They had $2.3 million in cash on hand going into the final stretch of the campaign.

Check out of our campaign finance tracker.

Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a 46-year-old Democrat who previously worked as a CIA officer, has won the race for Virginia governor, according to the Associated Press, securing a major win for Democrats in one of Tuesday’s most heavily watched races.

Spanberger defeated Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. She campaigned in part on resisting President Trump and his agenda in Washington, but generally struck a moderate tone, as she has throughout her political career. Trump had called on voters to reject Spanberger.

If the ads are any indication, Proposition 50 offers Californians a stark choice: “Stick it to Trump” or “throw away the constitution” in a Democratic power grab.

And like so many things in 2025, Trump appears to be the galvanizing issue.

Voters, some in shorts and flip-flops, waited in line for 30 minutes or more outside a vote center in Huntington Beach on Tuesday afternoon.

“Vote no! Don’t ruin Huntington Beach!” one man shouted as he left the center.

Under Proposition 50, the conservative Orange County seaside city would fall into a new congressional district that includes Long Beach but no longer keeps some Republican-rich communities to the south. The current district is represented by Dave Min, a Democrat, but under Proposition 50 would be redrawn to more strongly favor Democrats.

Huntington Beach resident Luke Walker, 18, spent time researching the arguments for and against the proposition and came down against it. He said the redesigned maps would leave out residents’ voices.

“You look at the people who will be voting and I don’t think they’ll be properly represented in the new state lines,” said Walker, who predicted that passage of Proposition 50 would lead to more division.

“It’s going to cause more of a rift in society,” he said. “People are going to start disliking each other even more.”

DeAyn Van Eyk, 63, also voted against the measure on Tuesday, believing Gov. Gavin Newsom is using it to further his own political interests. “It sounds like it’s good for him,” she said of the politician, the face of Democratic resistance against Trump.

“I totally dislike Newsom,” she said. She said she doesn’t like Trump, either, “as a person — I think he can be a good leader.”

She said her son lived in Texas but that she wasn’t closely watching that state’s redistricting process. Her “no” vote, she said, was about sending the message that it’s important to be “fair and just for everyone.” If the goal is to “benefit one party or the other, you’re not talking for the people.”

On Monday, an appellate court struck down Huntington Beach’s proposed voter ID law. The city’s voters passed a charter amendment last year giving leaders the authority to require that voters show their ID before they can cast a ballot in local elections in 2026.

Among those who voted for Proposition 50 was Huntington Beach resident Miko Vaughn, 48, who said she wanted Democrats to “level the playing field.”

“It’s a temporary thing, but I think it’s important with the changes in Texas that it stays even.”

Some see the Proposition 50 battle as a proxy war between President Trump and Newsom, but Vaughn views it differently. It’s just “against Trump,” she said. “I feel like there’s not much we can do individually, so it does feel good to do something.”

Vaughn said that she was impressed to see so many people turn out, particularly since it’s not a presidential election.

Others had a different take.

“I’m just mad they dragged me out for this stupid vote,” said one man, who declined to give his name, as he walked away from the polling place.

“What a waste of time!” his female companion added.

SACRAMENTO — State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Monday that he anticipates the Trump administration, which last week announced plans to use federal election monitors in California, will use false reports of voting irregularities to challenge the results of the Nov. 4 special election.

Bonta, California’s top law enforcement officer, said on a call with reporters that he is “100%” concerned about false accusations of wrongdoing at the polling places.

SACRAMENTO — While President Trump was pushing National Guard troops from city to city like some little kid playing with his toy soldiers, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was coaxing voters into fighting the man’s election-rigging scheme.

It turned out to be an easy sell for the governor. By the end, Californians appeared ready to send a loud message that they not only objected to the president’s election rigging but practically all his policies.

Trump is his own worst enemy, at least in this solidly blue state — and arguably the California GOP’s biggest current obstacle to regaining relevancy.

Politics in the year after a presidential election are typically focused on local and statewide contests.

But the races decided on Tuesday — which include a pivotal mayoral contest in New York and California’s referendum on congressional redistricting — will have national implications. The gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey will be a report card on President Trump’s second term.

As a result, cable news will be paying special attention. The races will also serve as an important test run for a couple of cable news networks in transition.

President Trump urged California voters on Sunday not to cast mail-in ballots or vote early in the California election about redistricting — the direct opposite of the message from state GOP leaders.

Repeating his false claim that former President Biden beat him in 2020 because the election was rigged, Trump argued that the November special election about redistricting in California would be rigged, as would the 2026 midterm election to determine control of Congress.

As California voters went to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballot on a measure that could block President Trump’s national agenda, state officials ridiculed his unsubstantiated claims that voting in the largely Democratic state is “rigged.”

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump said on Truth Social just minutes after polling stations opened Tuesday across California.

When it comes to Proposition 50, Marcia Owens is a bit fuzzy on the details.

She knows, vaguely, it has something to do with how California draws the boundaries for its 52 congressional districts, a convoluted and arcane process that’s not exactly top of the mind for your average person. But Owens is abundantly clear when it comes to her intent in Tuesday’s special election.

“I’m voting to take power out of Trump’s hands and put it back in the hands of the people,” said Owens, 48, a vocational nurse in Riverside. “He’s making a lot of illogical decisions that are really wreaking havoc on our country. He’s not putting our interests first, making sure that an individual has food on the table, they can pay their rent, pay electric bills, pay for healthcare.”

Is President Trump going to restart nuclear weapons testing? When will this federal shutdown end? Will Californians pass Proposition 50, scramble the state’s congressional maps and shake up next year’s midterm elections?

Amid a swirl of high-stakes standoffs and unprecedented posturing by Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other leaders in Washington and Sacramento, the future of U.S. politics, and California’s role therein, has felt wildly uncertain of late.

Residents across the city of Los Angeles continue to make their way to polling centers, but The Times caught up with one voter who expressed concerns about how immigration activity could be hindering voter turnout.

First-time voter Israel Pineda, 21, hustled to the South Los Angeles Sports Activity Center to cast his ballot around lunchtime on Tuesday.

He said he was motivated to vote in the special election partially out of regret for not voting last fall.

“I woke up this morning and realized I still have time to vote, so I got up and came straight here,” the Cal State Long Beach student said. “It was a lesson for me ... because I didn’t vote in the presidential election. It hit me, what if my vote did matter? I didn’t want to feel like that with this one.”

He said he worried that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would target local voting centers, and that it could suppress turnout.

“In this area, with it being so Latino, who wouldn’t be scared?” Pineda said. “They’re always nearby. That’s why some of my peers haven’t showed up.”

Latinos unleashed a political earthquake after voting for Donald Trump, who has long painted the country’s largest minority as an existential threat, in unexpectedly large numbers in the fall.

This swing to MAGA helped Trump win, kicked Democrats into the political wilderness, launched a thousand thought pieces and showed politicians that they ignore Latinos at their own risk.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla announced Tuesday that he will not run for California governor next year, ending months of speculation about the possibility of the Democrat vying to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“It is with a full heart and even more commitment than ever that I am choosing to not run for governor of California next year,” Padilla told reporters outside his Senate office in Washington.

Gov. Gavin Newsom spearheaded a bold overhaul of California’s congressional map, a move that could dramatically shift the state’s political landscape.

A Times analysis of recent election results found the redistricting effort, which will go to voters on Nov. 4 as Proposition 50, could turn 41 Democratic-leaning congressional districts into 47. Democrats currently hold 215 seats in the House, while Republicans control 220. If California voters approve the new map, the shift could be enough to threaten the GOP’s narrow majority.

You can vote by mail, drop your ballot in a box, or show up at a polling place on election day if you forgot to register to vote.

Here’s information on how and where to cast your ballot, according to the state’s secretary of state.

Minutes ahead of California’s voting centers opening to the public Tuesday morning, President Trump took to Truth Social to slam the electoral process for Proposition 50 as rigged.

When asked to elaborate on Trump’s claim, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed without providing evidence that fraud is happening with mailed-in ballots.

“Fraudulent ballots are being mailed-in in the names of other people, in the names of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be voting in American elections,” Leavitt claimed at a White House press briefing.

“There’s countless examples and we would be happy to provide them.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request from The Times for those examples.

“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our election in this country, and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud,” Leavitt said.

Prop. 50 has emerged as a national political powder keg that could determine control of Congress.

So how did we get here?

Times reporter Laura J. Nelson explains:

In June, Trump’s political team began pushing Republicans in Texas to redraw the state’s 38 congressional districts. Doing so in the middle of the decade is very uncommon and would give Republicans a better shot at keeping power in the House after the 2026 election.

Within a month of the White House floating the idea, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott agreed to attempt to unseat as many as five Texas Democrats, and added the gerrymandered map to the Legislature’s special session in July.

By mid-July, Newsom began talking about California punching back. Consultants for the campaign arm of House Democrats quietly drew up maps that would further reduce the number of California Republicans in Congress.

The Democratic-controlled state Legislature acted swiftly in mid-August and put the maps on the ballot.

Proposition 50, the ballot measure about congressional redistricting that has turned into a referendum about President Trump that California voters will be deciding on Tuesday, is among the most expensive ballot measures in state history.

More than $193 million has been donated to campaign committees about the wonky process of redrawing the state’s congressional districts before the 2026 midterm election in a Democratic effort to blunt President Trump’s ability to continue enacting his agenda in his final two years in office.

It’s an exorbitant amount of campaign cash given that state lawmakers voted in August to put the proposal on Tuesday’s ballot. Supporters of the measure have vastly outraised opponents, leading Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief architect of the proposition, to recently repeatedly tell supporters to stop sending donations.

The prior California ballot measures to raise more money involved sports betting, the employment classification of gig economy employees such as Uber drivers, and rent control, according to Ballotpedia, a nonpartisan, nonprofit source of electoral data.

One voter not supporting Proposition 50 on Tuesday was Mike, who declined to give his last name, and was casting his ballot at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in East Los Angeles.

A lifelong Angeleno, Mike said he was furious at California leaders for putting Prop 50 on the ballot in a bid to gerrymander away the state’s remaining Republican House seats.

“It’s $250 million just to run this election,” he said. “They’re changing the rules because they want to get rid of Republicans. It’s a landmine.”

The Times previously reported Tuesday’s election will cost state taxpayers nearly $300 million and whether the results will make a difference in taking control of the House is unclear as other states including Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Ohio undergo their own redistricting efforts.

He predicted the move was likely to backfire on Democrats, who could pick up a few seats in California but would likely lose more in Republican states that gerrymandered in response.

“The big problem is illegals voting,” he said, gesturing at other voters in the church in the heavily Latino neighborhood. “We’re allowing people to vote and giving them a voice they don’t deserve.”

What’s top of mind for many California voters Tuesday morning is Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts in an effort to increase the number of Democrats in Congress.

But for Ranier Wilson, 34, his vote is about giving a voice to those who cannot participate in marking off a ballot.

Wilson sat out the last few elections, he told The Times.

He wasn’t registered to vote when he ambled up to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in East Los Angeles around 9:30 Tuesday morning.

But minutes later he had an “I Voted” sticker pasted to the center of his DayGlo orange beanie, and a promise in his heart to make himself heard going forward.

“I felt like I needed to start using my voice,” he said. “I know a lot of people are scared to vote. People I live with, people in my family are just afraid to say anything, so I thought I would do something for them.”

Wilson said he voted in favor of Prop 50.

“Usually I vote selfishly. I’m trying to vote selflessly,” the new voter went on. ”I’m helping give a voice to those who are afraid. It feels good to do it.”

Adee Renteria who was decked out in Dodgers World Series gear — like most voters at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in East Los Angeles Tuesday morning — bounced out of the polls.

She was ecstatic at having cast her vote for what she hoped would be a safer and brighter future for California.

“I want a fricking voice!” Renteria said. “I want our people to be able to walk to the streets without getting kidnapped. I actually pulled my daughter out of school because of all the chaos. I just didn’t feel safe dropping her off and picking her up risking not finding my child, because so many people are still disappearing.”

She said she was worried Immigration and Customs Enforcement would target polling places like hers, and stayed home from the Dodgers victory parade Monday out of fear.

She hoped the passage of Prop 50 would help California’s elected leaders fight back against policies she said had sown terror in her community.

“This was a very important voting event for me,” she said. “I’m gonna do better at keeping up with our politics and what benefits Los Angeles and California.”

Many voters cast early ballots for Proposition 50.

But registered voters are still expected to cast ballots in large numbers today,

You can find your polling place by visiting this website or calling (800) 345-8683. The Voter’s Choice Act of 2016 allowed counties to create regional vote centers to give residents more places to cast ballots.

Click here to see which California counties are taking part in this system.

The major issue on the Nov. 4 special election is Proposition 50, which would gerrymander the state’s congressional districts to help Democrats in response to the Trump administration’s moves to increase the number of Republican Congress members. Voters in some areas of California will also see other contests on their Nov. 4 ballots.

More voting help here.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom stepped to the microphone at the state Democratic headquarters in mid-August with the conviction of a man certain he was on the right side of history, bluntly saying California has a moral obligation to thwart President Trump’s attempt to tilt the balance of Congress.

Over the next 2½ months, Newsom became the public face of Proposition 50, a measure designed to help Democrats win control of the U.S. House of Representatives by temporarily redrawing California’s congressional districts.

The U.S. Department of Justice will monitor polling sites in five California counties as voters decide on Proposition 50 on Nov. 4, it said Friday, after being asked to do so by state GOP officials.

Monitoring, which is routinely conducted by the Justice Department, will occur across Southern California and in the Central Valley, in Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, the Justice Department said.

A spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom called the move an “intimidation tactic” aimed at suppressing support for Proposition 50, and inappropriate federal interference in a state election.

NEW YORK — Voters were casting ballots in high-stakes elections on both coasts Tuesday, including for mayor of New York, new congressional maps in California and governor in both New Jersey and Virginia, states whose shifting electorates could signal the direction of the nation’s political winds.

For voters and political watchers alike, the races have taken on huge importance at a time of tense political division, when Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided over the direction of the nation. Despite President Trump not appearing on any ballots, some viewed Tuesday’s races as a referendum on him and his volatile second term in the White House.

Proposition 50 would shift the state’s congressional district lines to favor Democrats. It is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to a similar effort in Texas designed to put more Republicans in Congress. The new district lines would override those created by the state’s nonpartisan, independent redistricting commission.

A Nov. 4 statewide ballot measure pushed by California Democrats to help the party’s efforts to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives and stifle President Trump’s agenda has a substantial lead in a new poll released on Thursday.

Six out of 10 likely voters support Proposition 50, the proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies to redraw the state’s congressional districts to try to increase the number of Democrats in Congress, according to a survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times. About 38% of likely voters oppose the ballot measure.

Just minutes after California voters began casting ballots Tuesday on a measure that could block President Trump’s national agenda, the GOP leader claimed without evidence that voting in the largely Democratic stronghold was “rigged.”

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump said on TruthSocial.

“All “Mail-In” Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are “Shut Out,” is under very serious legal and criminal review,” the GOP president added. “STAY TUNED!”

Voters across California will cast their ballot Tuesday on Proposition 50, a Democratic plan, championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, to push back against GOP redistricting in Texas and other conservative states by redrawing the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 election to favor the Democratic party in Congress.

Gov Newsom’s press office was quick to push back on Trump’s allegation, calling the President “a totally unserious person spreading false information in a desperate attempt to cope with his failures.”

Voters have an array of ways to cast their ballot in the Nov. 4 special election. This guide uses California secretary of state information to tell you how and where to vote, and the deadlines.

Bomb threats have disrupted voting in some parts of New Jersey, temporarily shutting down a string of polling locations across the state early Tuesday morning before law enforcement determined the threats were hoaxes.

Law enforcement responded to emailed threats at polling places in seven of New Jersey’s 21 counties, according to the state’s Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. By 8:15 am, some polling locations had already reopened to the public, Platkin said, while others were redirecting voters to nearby polling locations.

New Jersey Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, the state’s top election official, said law enforcement determined the threats were not credible.

“We are doing everything in our power to protect voters and poll workers and encourage every eligible voter to exercise their right to vote,” Way said in a statement.

New Jersey, a traditional Democratic stronghold where Republicans have made gains in recent years, is drawing national scrutiny as voters cast their ballot in a tightly contested Gubernatorial election between Representative Mikie Sherrill, a moderate Democrat, and Jack Ciattarelli, a businessman and former GOP state legislator backed by President Trump.

“Voters should continue to have confidence that they can cast their ballot without fear of intimidation, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure a free, fair, and secure election,” Platkin said in a statement. “Make no mistake: We will not tolerate any attempts to interfere with our elections, and we will swiftly hold accountable anyone who seeks to interfere with the safety or security of our electoral process.”

The bomb threats in New Jersey echoed a flurry of threats targeting Georgia, Maine, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio on 2024 election day.

“The current New Jersey bomb threats suggest threat actors may seek to target additional locations hosting high-profile races, particularly during peak voting hours,” the Center for Internet Security, a nonprofit group focused on cybersecurity, noted in a Nov. 4 2025 election situation report. “Election officials should communicate with law enforcement to ensure awareness regarding the NJ bomb threats and be prepared to communicate with the public via available channels in the event of disruptive activity.”

Voters went to the polls Tuesday amid “rising political tension” and the “highest levels of political violence in the U.S. since the 1970s,” according to a recent threat assessment from the Center for Internet Security.

“Election officials and facilities, as well as candidates will be increasingly targeted with physical threats online and in-person, particularly during high-profile races,” the report said. “Potential targets include, but are not limited to, election officials, workers and volunteers, voter registration and voting locations, vote counting centers, drop boxes, and U.S. Postal Services facilities which handle mail-in ballots.“

Proposition 50 is part of a spiraling national fight over redistricting, instigated by President Trump, that could determine the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 election.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in the state Legislature put Proposition 50 on California’s Nov. 4 ballot after the Texas GOP began discussing a new map that would help elect five more Republicans to Congress.

The Republican Party holds the House by such a slim margin that any changes to state maps could have an effect on the balance of power in Washington.

WASHINGTON — One year after Trump retook the White House and set into motion a dramatic expansion of executive power, the Republican president figures prominently in state and local elections being held Tuesday.

The results of those contests — the first general election of Trump’s second term — will be heralded by the victors as either a major repudiation or resounding stamp of approval of his second-term agenda. That’s especially true in high-profile races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor and a California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries.

More than half of the states will hold contests Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the major statewide and local races on the ballot:

California voters delivered a stinging rebuke to President Trump in the state’s special election Tuesday, overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure to counter the president’s pressure on Republican states to increase GOP congressional seats and preserve his power in Washington.

The Associated Press called the victory moments after the polls closed Tuesday night.