Trump attacks California Proposition 50 while pushing Texas Republicans to redraw districts

President Trump posted on Truth Social on Nov. 4, 2025, calling Proposition 50 a "GIANT SCAM" and saying "All 'Mail-In' Ballots... is under very serious legal and criminal review.".

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Nov. 4 that the White House was "looking into executive action" and said the administration was working on an executive order addressing alleged fraud in California's mail voting. Leavitt did not claim the president can unilaterally nullify a statewide ballot measure.

Proposition 50 was a 2025 California constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4 special election ballot that would temporarily return congressional redistricting authority to the Legislature and produce a new map widely described as favorable to Democrats, put forward after Republican-led mid-decade redistricting in other states.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber called the president's claims "another baseless claim," and she urged voters to go to the polls. California election officials and the state's attorney general's office described the allegations as unsupported.

The Constitution assigns primary authority over the "times, places and manner" of congressional elections to the states and gives Congress the power to regulate federal election rules. Legal experts said the president lacks a clear constitutional mechanism to unilaterally overturn a state ballot measure or take over state redistricting.

Mid-decade redistricting has increased as state partisan control has shifted. Texas Republican leaders pursued mid-decade map changes in 2023; those moves helped trigger political and legislative responses in Democratic-led states including California.

Trump attacks California Proposition 50 while pushing Texas Republicans to redraw districts

Republican Redistricting and Gerrymandering

Trump attacks California Proposition 50 while pushing Texas Republicans to redraw districts