California voters on Nov. 4 passed Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment that allows a redrawing of the state’s congressional district boundaries, a major win for Democrats.

The measure, which was pushed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, permits California’s Democratic state lawmakers to temporarily redraw the state’s U.S. congressional districts to increase their party’s chances of winning more seats in Congress.

After the 2030 U.S. Census, the state will return to using a nonpartisan commission to draw their congressional district boundaries.

Prop 50’s passing essentially negates five new GOP-leaning congressional districts Texas created earlier this year at the urging of President Donald Trump. Here’s what to know.

Proposition 50: How it can change California elections and shift Trump’s strategy

Did Prop 50 pass?

Yes, Proposition 50 passed in California. The measure authorizes a temporary redrawing of the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Democrats hope the amendment will offset a Republican-led redistricting in Texas. With California and Texas having the largest Democratic and Republican delegations, respectively, they hold more weight in who controls the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House.

Redistricting typically happens at the start of every decade, but some states are prohibiting more mid-decade changes.

“What a night for the Democratic party,” Newsom said after polls closed on Nov. 4.

Trump denounced the results in a post on Truth Social.

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” he wrote.

Prop 50 election results

Over eight million Californians turned out to vote for Prop 50, according to data from the California Secretary of State.

More than 63% of voters elected to pass Prop 50, while roughly 36% voted against it.

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com. 

Contributing: Sarah D. Wire, Ramon Padilla and Ignacio Calderon, USA TODAY

“I think that’s really unfortunate that we’re responding to the current federal situation by limiting Californians’ ability to get really the cheapest and most economical, sustainable transportation option, instead of sort of doubling down and saying, ‘We have this really low-cost option that opens trips up for more people, and then we also have this other option for people who need cars,’” Ramsey said.

CARB’s e-bike program, created by a bill passed in 2022, faced difficulties getting off the ground. It wasn’t until 2024 that the agency began issuing $1,750 vouchers for a range of approved bikes to people whose annual household income fell under 300% of the federal poverty line. An additional $250 was available to applicants who met further income criteria.

The program was designed to expand access to an affordable transportation model, especially for non-drivers and people with limited mobility.

While it was heralded initially as an ambitious, and significant, step toward clean transportation, it also invited widespread criticism after a slow rollout, multiple pushed-back application timelines and two state investigations into Pedal Ahead, the nonprofit chosen to administer the vouchers.

Applicants also expressed frustration over technical issues with the application process once it got underway.

While the state’s electric vehicle incentive program has a rolling application process, the e-bike voucher program, by contrast, requires people to log onto the website at a prescribed time, click the application portal at just the right moment and enter their information under a time crunch.

“I found it a little bit surprising that the same entity would have two similar voucher programs run completely different ways … when they had an existing program that was already working, that was distributing a large amount of money as well,” Ramsey said.