San Francisco Green Party

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, 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. 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. 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. 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!

These are the SF Green Party's final endorsements for the March 2024 election.

Our complete Green Voter Guide is now posted. Click "read more" to see full explanations of the reasons behind our endorsements.

Local Offices:

• SF Superior Court Judge, seat 1: Michael Begert

Local Ballot Measures:

• NO on A: "Affordable" Housing Bond
• NO on B: More Police
• NO on C: Developer Tax Break
• YES on D: Ethics Reform
• NO on E: Let Cops Do Anything
• NO on F: Drug Test Poor People
• YES on G: Algebra

State Ballot Measures:

• NO on 1: Behavioral Health Facilities Bond

Click below to read our complete Green Voter Guide.

These are the SF Green Party's final endorsements for the November 2024 election. We have mailed a postcard with our endorsements to all our members. If you can donate to help cover our printing and mailing costs, please use the "donate" link to the left!

Our complete Green Voter Guide is now posted. Click "read more" to see full explanations of the reasons behind our endorsements.

President and Vice President: Jill Stein and Butch Ware (nominated at our national convention in August)

Mayor: Aaron Peskin (#1 ranked choice), Dylan Hirsch-Shell (#2 ranked choice)

SF Board of Supervisors:

• D1: Connie Chan
• D3: Sharon Lai
• D5: Dean Preston
• D7: no endorsement
• D9: no endorsement
• D11: Ernest "EJ" Jones(#1 ranked choice), Adlah Chisti (#2 ranked choice)

District Attorney: Ryan Khojasteh

School Board: Matt Alexander, Laurance Lem Lee, Virginia Cheung

College Board: Alan Wong, Aliya Chisti

BART Board: no endorsement

Local Ballot Measures:

• NO on A: school bonds without accountability on which projects will be funded
• NO on B: bonds for various City construction projects
• YES on C: create Inspector General under the Controller's office to investigate corruption
• NO on D: eliminating many City commissions and further empowering the Mayor
• no consensus on E: task force to create future ballot measure to eliminate City commissions
• NO on F: allows retired police to work for 5 more years and get retirement pay plus salary
• YES on G: rent subsidies for low income seniors, families, and people with disabilities
• no position on H: lower retirement age for firefighters
• YES on I: retirement credits for nurses and 911 operators
• NO on J: more mayoral control over public education funds
• NO on K: environmentally damaging park next to Ocean Beach
• YES on L: ComMUNIty Transit Act (Greens gave an early endorsement and are helping gather signatures to put this on the ballot)
• NO on M: business tax reform that would kill Prop L
• NO on N: first responder student loan forgiveness fund
• YES on O: protect abortion rights in SF

State Ballot Measures:

• NO on 2: pay for school maintenance through bonds rather than state budget
• YES on 3: repeals Prop 8, the CA constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage
• NO on 4: water bond with funding for logging, ranching, and biomass-based fuel
• NO on 5: makes it easier to spend public bond money on private luxury housing
• YES on 6: reduces coercion of forced prison labor
• YES on 32: increases minimum wage
• YES on 33: allows more rent control
• NO on 34: attack on AIDS foundation
• YES on 35: tax on private insurance plans to fund Medical
• NO on 36: war on drugs, longer jail sentences for nonviolent crimes

Click below to read our complete Green Voter Guide.

These are the SF Green Party's final endorsements for the November 2022 election. We have mailed a postcard with our endorsements to all our members. If you can donate to help cover our printing and mailing costs, please use the "donate" link to the left!

Our complete Green Voter Guide is now posted. Click "read more" to see full explanations of the reasons behind our endorsements.

Local Offices:

• District Attorney: John Hamasaki
• Public Defender: Rebecca Susan Feng Young
• Community College Board: William Walker
• Board of Education: No endorsements
• BART Board: No endorsement
• No endorsement
• D2 Supervisor: No endorsement
• D4 Supervisor: No endorsement
• D6 Supervisor: No endorsement
• D8 Supervisor: No endorsement
• D10 Supervisor: Shamann Walton

Local Ballot Measures:

• NO on A: Limits increases in pensions for some City retirees
• NO on B: Reverses voter-approved changes to create Department of Sanitation and Streets
• YES on C: Homelessness oversight commission
• NO on D: Redefines luxury housing as "affordable"
• NO on E: Skips environmental review of "affordable" housing development
• YES on F: Extend library preservation fund
• YES on G: Minor increase to school funding
• NO on H: Eliminates elections in odd numbered years, giving more power to the Mayor
• NO on I: Cars everywhere
• YES on J: Car-free JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park
• NO on K: "Amazon Tax" that wouldn't apply to Amazon (removed from ballot)
• YES on L: Keep sales tax to fund transit
• YES on M: Tax on keeping residential apartments vacant
• YES on N: Take over Golden Gate Park garage
• YES on O: Parcel tax to fund City College (restoring some of the classes that were cut)

State Ballot Measures:

• YES on 1: Protect abortion rights
• NO on 26: Regressive tax on addicts, loss of tribal sovereignty, supports animal cruelty
• NO on 27: Just like 26, but with some window dressing for homeless services
• YES on 28: Minor net increase in art and music funding for K-12 schools
• YES on 29: Another battle between SEIU-UHW and corporations that run dialysis clinics
• NO on 30: Lyft-sponsored proposition to defund public transit, subsidize electric cars and clear-cut forests
• YES on 31: Uphold the ban on flavored tobacco products

Click below to read our complete Green Voter Guide.