The father of California’s past redistricting reforms has come out against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) proposal to redraw the state’s congressional districts, writing in a New York Times op-ed that he’s opposing the legislative response to President Donald Trump’s nationwide gerrymandering crusade so that he can give “the people an informed choice” and “preserve free and competitive elections.”
But the essay’s author, conservative megadonor Charles Munger Jr, failed to disclose that to do so, he’s funding opposition tactics like a recent mailer that falsely suggested to the state’s liberal voting base that progressive lawmakers and organizations opposed Newsom’s redistricting. The campaign resembled deceptive antiabortion and anti-union efforts that Munger Jr has bankrolled in the past.
While he fashions himself a good-government moderate, Munger Jr’s multimillion-dollar misinformation campaign could be a prelude to just how far powerful and moneyed interests are willing to go to ensure that Republicans win the national redistricting battle and preserve GOP congressional control in the 2026 midterm elections.
Newsom and his allies are pushing voters to redraw California’s congressional districts to add Democratic seats in a November 4 special election. The effort is explicitly framed as a countermeasure to Trump pressuring Texas and other states to redraw their congressional maps mid-decade to flip seats in the 2026 midterm elections and preserve Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.
Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) recently tweeted he would fight Newsom’s redistricting effort, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is reportedly aiming to…
Auteur: Brock Hrehor
