“Manipulating maps for political gain is a disservice to the people,” said League of Women Voters CEO Celina Stewart.
California Democrats are hard at work corralling their base behind a proposed partisan redistricting effort to oust the few remaining Republican representatives in Congress. Their strategy hit an unexpected roadblock when the League of Women Voters, a long-standing left-of-center organization, publicly denounced Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan.
For Democrats hoping to consolidate power and reshape the state’s congressional delegation, this is a serious setback.
“The League of Women Voters (LWV) does not support a tit-for-tat approach to redistricting,” said Celina Stewart, the organization’s CEO. “State legislatures redrawing their maps mid-cycle reflects political gamesmanship that erodes public trust in our democracy. Redistricting must be fair, transparent, and rooted in the voices of voters—not partisan retaliation.”
The LWV describes itself as a grassroots organization (a 501(c)(4)) working to empower voters and defend democracy. By denouncing the gerrymandering of Gov. Newsom, they argue they are doing just that.
“Manipulating maps for political gain is a disservice to the people. The League stands for maps that reflect communities, not political calculations. Voters deserve stable, fair representation—not to be used as pawns in a power grab. When politicians rewrite the rules mid-game to protect their control, democracy loses.”
To say this is a wake-up call for Democrats is something of an understatement. The League has sided with Democrats on everything from abortion to gun control. That includes opposition to photo ID requirements and support for transgender athletes in women’s sports. It seemed almost inevitable that they would rally behind Newsom and his ilk once more.
But, evidently, gerrymandering is a bridge too far.
Dora Rose, Deputy Director for the League’s California chapter issued another statement on behalf of regional members: “We oppose all attempts to gerrymander congressional lines on a partisan basis.”
“Redistricting should never be a tool of political opportunity,” wrote League of Women Voters of California Board President Gloria Chun Hoo in a piece for the Sacramento Bee. “It should be a careful, transparent and rare undertaking guided not by partisan ambition but by data, public input and the goal of ensuring that Californians are fairly represented in government.”
Chun Hoo clarifies that the League was a proponent of 2008’s Proposition 11—also known as the Voters FIRST Act—which Democrat efforts could upend. Prop 11 created the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, a nonpartisan body to oversee a fair redistricting process every ten years. She calls Prop 11 “a bold and necessary reform that ended decades of political manipulation” which was used “to protect incumbents and entrench party power.”
In other words, exactly what the Democrats hope to achieve now.
The League is joined by other groups such as Common Cause California. While less overtly progressive than LWV, Common Clause is a left-leaning lobbying and advocacy group whose priorities are generally focused on “limiting big money’s influence on our elections” and election protection. They too were advocates for Prop 11.
While Common Clause said it will not pre-emptively oppose mid-decade redistricting, President and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón stated that they “will not sit idly by while political leaders manipulate voting maps to entrench their power and subvert our democracy,” whether in Texas or in California.
Statements such as these have created unlikely alliances between progressive nonprofits and Republican legislators like Rep. Kevin Kiley, who is putting forth a bill to prohibit mid-decade redistricting nationwide. One could also include in that group California Senator Tony Strickland, who recently issued a statement strongly urging Governor Newsom, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and other California Democrat leaders to listen to this growing coalition—mentioning Common Clause and the League of Women Voters by name.
“Together, we can safeguard our democracy and ensure that redistricting is a fair and transparent process for all,” said Strickland.
