Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: VOTERS in California have approved a measure to redraw political lines to favour Democrats – launching a counterattack against similar efforts by conservative-led states in a nationwide battle for control of the US House of Representatives.
With more than 70% of the votes counted, CBS projects the redistricting measure, called Prop 50, has passed. It is aimed at reconfiguring the state’s voting districts to give Democrats better chances at taking five House seats from Republicans during next year’s midterm elections.
Whether this will tip the balance of power in Washington remains unclear as more Republican-led states are redrawing their voting lines under pressure from President Donald Trump. Currently, Republicans hold a small, five-seat majority in the 435-member House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress.
If Democrats win a majority in the chamber in the 2026 election, they will be able to stunt Trump’s legislative agenda for at least the next two years and also lead congressional oversight of his administration – action that could range from investigations, complete with subpoenas, to impeachment.
A look nationally shows the effort in Democrat-heavy California won’t be enough on its own to cancel out gains by Republicans who have also redone voting maps. Four Republican-led states have already redrawn their lines so far this year, giving the party a likely advantage in nine new voting districts. Still, experts told the BBC that even after changing the districts, Republicans might lose control of the House in next year’s midterm elections.
They are called midterm elections, where voters cast ballots for congressional candidates as well as state ones, because they take place in the middle of a president’s four-year term. Historically, a president often loses power of at least one chamber in Congress in the midterms. The Brookings Institution has found that the party of the president lost House seats in 20 of the last 22 midterm elections – going back to 1938.
