Tues, Nov 4 GREENZINE SF Green Party Weekly News and Events www.sfgreenparty.org twitter.com/sfgreenparty instagram.com/sfgreenparty mastodon.sfgreens.org/@sfgreenparty www.facebook.com/groups/SFGreenParty/ Dear Greens, It's Election Day! If you haven't already voted by mail, please drop your ballot off at the polls, and vote NO on Prop 50, the Democrats' attack on voting rights in CA (see the link, or the complete text below): https://www.sfgreenparty.org/endorsements/113-endorsement-no-on-prop-50 Note that we will be hosting a holiday gathering instead of our regularly scheduled members' meetings in November or December. We'll be announcing that here when a date is set. Here's our Green Voter Guide to Prop 50: NO on Prop 50 - Newsom Gerrymandering Prop 50 would temporarily repeal the Citizens Redistricting Commission that California voters created in 2008 and further empowered in 2010. It would create new gerrymandered Congressional districts drawn by Democrats in the state legislature for elections in 2026, 2028, and 2030. As a result, CA Democrats are expected to win 5 more Congressional seats than they currently hold. Governor Newsom's move is in response to gerrymandering in Texas, where Republicans are redrawing district lines to win 5 more seats currently held by Texas Democrats. Because gerrymandering is not compatible with democracy, one of the Green Party's Key Values (link: https://www.sfgreenparty.org/10-key-values), we strongly oppose Prop 50. In any democracy, voters must be able to choose who we want to represent us, rather than politicians picking which voters they want in their districts. Under Prop 50 or the proposed system in Texas, any Democrat who's been gerrymandered into a district with a large majority of Republicans would basically lose their right to vote. So would a Republican who's been moved into a district with an overwhelming majority of Democrats. Newsom claims that eliminating Californians' right to choose our own representatives is necessary to stop Trump from imposing a dictatorship on the entire country, which Republicans would go along with if they maintain control of Congress after the 2026 election. But regardless of how CA votes on Prop 50, Republicans are almost certain to lose their current 5-seat majority in the House. In 20 of the last 22 midterm elections going back to 1938, the party in power has lost House seats, with the only two exceptions being years when the incumbent president had job approval from over 60% of Americans (link: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-history-tells-us-about-the-2026-midt...). In most of these elections, the party in power lost a very large number of seats: Republicans lost 26 seats in 1982 under Reagan, while Democrats lost 54 seats in 1994 under Clinton and 63 in 2010 under Obama. During Trump's first term, Republicans lost 41 seats to Democrats in the 2018 midterm election. Trump's behavior in his second term has been far more authoritarian and unhinged. His Gestapo-like ICE raids have even resulted in the arrests of some of his own supporters. MAGA policies are increasingly unpopular among all Americans outside of a small fascist fringe, so we expect a huge electoral swing away from Trump in the 2026 midterms. A couple of gerrymandered seats in CA or Texas isn't going to change that. The best solution to ensure all Californians' votes count would be to change all our legislative elections to a proportional representation system. The current balance among CA's 52 congressmembers is 43 Democrats (83%), 9 Republicans (17%), and 0 Greens and others. In contrast, voters in CA are 45% registered Democrats, 25% Republicans, 22% Decline to State, and 7% Others (link: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/voter-registration-stati...). Greens routinely get from 2% to 4% of the vote in statewide races. Under proportional representation, this would translate into 1 or 2 House seats for Greens, while Democrats would win almost twice as many seats as Republicans. Everybody's vote would count, including rural Democrats and urban Republicans. However, under the extreme gerrymandering in Prop 50, California's congressional delegation would become even more unrepresentative of our voters. If Prop 50 passes, Democrats would take over 5 Republican seats in CA, resulting in a 2028 delegation with 48 Democrats (92%), 4 Republicans (8%), and 0 Greens and others (link: https://news.ballotpedia.org/2025/09/23/california-proposition-50-would-shif...). People from rural areas in communities north of Redding would be "represented" by a suburban Democrat from Marin county. Greens previously endorsed both ballot measures to create and expand the powers of the Citizens Redistricting Commission. In endorsing the second measure, we wrote: Prop 20 will allow the voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw California's congressional districts in addition to state legislative districts. Under Prop 20, Sacramento politicians will no longer be able to draw election districts to help ensure reelection for their friends in Congress - even when they ignore voters. Prop 20 also ensures that our communities can no longer be carved up by politicians just to ensure the political outcome they want. This kind of gerrymandering, discussed by SF Green party activist Steve Hill in his book "Fixing Elections," is one factor in our current system that reduces democracy. All Americans need to stand up to the authoritarian Trump regime to defend what little democracy we have left. Newsom's scheme to take away voting rights from Californians is a move in the opposite direction. We can't fight MAGA with Blue MAGA. Vote NO on Prop 50, and instead help us to build a stronger Green Party that will stand up to fascist politicians from both sides of the aisle! *===========================* To submit events for our newsletter, please email a short blurb to news@sfgreens.org. Messages to a mailing list will be rejected.