PRIORITIES • Fight Corruption • Policy to
End Gerrymandering
Why I believe this — and how I’ll fight for it.
Politicians should never get to pick their own voters — but that’s exactly what gerrymandering lets them do. The people competing for these seats, and the party bosses with their own agendas, should be the last ones allowed to draw the district lines. When they draw the maps, they draw themselves safe seats: no real competition, no accountability, and representation built to serve a party instead of you.
California actually got this right once — and it was Republicans who led the way. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger championed it, and together with reformers on both sides — Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Republicans and Democrats alike — California handed its maps to an independent citizens’ commission: everyday people, not politicians, drawing fair lines. It became the national model for how to do this right. Then, in response to Texas rigging its own maps for partisan gain, the establishment here threw ours away with Prop 50 and handed the pen back to the politicians.
I supported Prop 50 as a response to the gerrymandering effort in Texas. But after speaking with thousands of voters at their doors, I am extremely disappointed — ashamed, even — of the way this was carried out in our own state. This should have proceeded as a solemn duty. Instead I watched the Democratic establishment in this state celebrate the disenfranchisement of millions of voters, including hundreds of thousands of people in this district. Two wrongs don’t make a fair map.
I’m fed up with the political hate manufactured by the party establishment on both sides. Real leaders are gracious to those on the other side. Our politicians would rather weaponize hate than empathize with the people they’re supposed to serve. A lot of people in this very district just had their voice redrawn out from under them, and they deserve empathy, not a victory lap. This was never a moment to cheer. It was a moment to mourn what we were losing — and to resolve to fix it for good.
Here’s what I’ll do — and why
Restore California’s independent commission. Give the maps back to citizens, where they belong. We had the model the whole country looked to. We should be leading on fair representation, not abandoning it the first time it’s inconvenient.
End gerrymandering everywhere — nationally. The only way out of an arms race is to end it for everyone at once. I’ll fight for a federal standard — independent commissions in every state, red and blue — so no party, in any state, can ever rig a map again. This is a fight I want to take to Washington, not just patch at home. End it nationally, and this game is never played again.
Ban the mid-decade power grab. No more tearing up the lines between censuses to grab a few seats — the trick Texas and California both just pulled. Maps get drawn once a decade, by citizens, and left alone.
The bottom line
Fair representation means districts that look and feel like the people who live in them — a voice for everyone, not a map built to protect a party. Most of us would rather spend this energy on the real problems in our lives, together. End gerrymandering for good and we get back to building better schools, safer towns, and an economy that works, and we hand our kids a democracy where every vote truly counts. Politicians shouldn’t pick their voters. The voters should pick them. Get that right, and there’s almost nothing this country can’t fix.
SOURCES
California’s independent Citizens Redistricting Commission — created by Proposition 11 (2008), extended to congressional maps by Proposition 20 (2010) — and what Proposition 50 (2025) changed: California Legislative Analyst’s Office — Proposition 50 Ballot Analysis (2025)
Official text of Proposition 50 (November 4, 2025 special election): California Secretary of State — Proposition 50, Text of Proposed Law