“If the politicians want to illegally seize back redistricting power from the citizens, it is only fitting that the ban against benefitting personally from those maps be imposed on them,” said Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego).
Earlier this week, Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) unveiled a ballot initiative he calls a “poison pill” aimed directly at Sacramento lawmakers. If passed, it would block any legislator who votes to overturn California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission or its maps from seeking elected office for the next decade.
DeMaio said the idea mirrors an existing constitutional rule that already bars members of the independent redistricting commission from running for office for 10 years after serving. “If the politicians want to illegally seize back redistricting power from the citizens,” DeMaio argued, “it is only fitting that the ban against benefitting personally from those maps be imposed on them.”
The announcement comes as Gov. Gavin Newsom faces mounting criticism for advancing a mid-cycle redistricting plan that would cost California taxpayers more than $235 million, according to the Assembly Republican Caucus Office of Policy and Budget. Critics say the proposal undermines reforms Californians overwhelmingly approved in 2008 including Proposition 11 when voters stripped the Legislature of map-drawing power and gave it to a nonpartisan citizens’ panel.
That commission spent months holding 196 public meetings, hearing nearly 4,000 public comments, and collecting more than 32,000 written submissions before finalizing the maps now in use. Now, that process is being upended by politicians like Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Humboldt), who—according to KCRA 3—had “districts drawn specifically for him in exchange for his support of the redistricting plan.”
Assembly Republicans have consistently blasted the maps as nothing more than a partisan power grab.
“These are rigged maps drawn in secret to give Democrat politicians more power by dismantling the independent commission Californians created to keep them out of map-drawing,” said Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher. “This is a mockery of democracy. If they can neuter the commission here, they can neuter it anywhere.”
“Governor Gavin Newsom, earlier today, said that he was going to save democracy, but he’s saving the democracy by having no more democratic elections in California,” said State Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach), who called the commission the “gold standard” for fair and open redistricting. “What Gavin Newsom wants to do is get rid of that transparency,” he added.
Is there hope for DeMaio’s gambit? His Reform California organization—the same network currently working to gather signatures for the CA Voter ID Initiative— says it is prepared to collect over 1 million signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot. Already, the group has secured significant funding and mobilized more than 10,000 volunteers.
“By filing this initiative before their vote, I’m putting corrupt Sacramento politicians on clear notice: if you try to undermine fair elections in California by manipulating the lines of districts, you will be banned from seeking office for the next 10 years just the same way redistricting commissioners are,” said DeMaio.
Even Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger weighed in. Schwarzenegger championed the Citizens Redistricting Commission during his time in office, then promising Californians they would have this independent system because it removed political self-interest from the process.
“I’m going to fight for my promise,” the former Governor said.
Democrats continue to point to Texas to justify their mid-cycle redistricting push in California. However, in Texas, the legislature has always retained authority to draw maps—meaning voters there never approved an independent process to insulate redistricting from politics. For Sacramento politicians to now seize back that authority, it would not simply mirror what’s happening in Texas. It would overturn the will of California voters in a democratic election—the very thing Democrats insist they’re protecting.
“This is how we fight back and protect our democracy,” said State Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach).
Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare) says the voters are on her side, not Newsom’s: “We will fight back. We will defeat this,” she said. “If it’s not here at the Capitol, it will be in a courtroom, or it will be at the ballot box.”
