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<\/p>\nNadia Lathan
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 CalMatters<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What you need to know about California’s Prop 50<\/p>\n
California voters will decide on Proposition 50, the Election Rigging Response Act, in a special statewide election on Nov. 4, 2025.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published by\u00a0CalMatters<\/a>.\u00a0Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for their newsletters.<\/p>\n Fredrich Bahrke moved to Lakeside 25 years ago, lured by the ranch-style homes that dot its open landscape and the slower pace of life in the town of 63,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been an out-in-the-country kind of boy. The rural life is more comfortable for me,\u201d Bahrke said.<\/p>\n This portion of San Diego County, known as East County, is divided by its rural and urban areas in U.S. House maps. Lakeside sits in contrast to the county\u2019s eastern, urban core on the outskirts of Democratic-leaning cities El Cajon and La Mesa.<\/p>\n Rural regions such as Lakeside and Blossom Valley in the 48th House district are represented by longtime Republican\u00a0Congressmember Darrell Issa<\/a>, while the nearby cities of El Cajon and Lemon Grove are represented by Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of the 51st District.<\/p>\n Proposition 50<\/a>, the November ballot measure to temporarily draw new House maps to give California Democrats an advantage, proposes to join San Diego\u2019s rural and urban East County together in an effort to weaken Republican voting power in an area known for its stalwart conservatism.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like that they\u2019re changing that and lumping us in the urban areas,\u201d Bahrke, a 65-year-old former Naval officer, said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to put us in a district with people with very different views in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans drawing new partisan maps in Texas is not the same as California\u2019s attempt because its state constitution allows it to do so, Bahrke said.<\/p>\n Under the proposed maps, the 48th District, which Issa now represents, would take on more Latino voters to become more competitive in the 2026 midterm elections and the following two election cycles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once the head of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa has represented parts of San Diego County for decades and built a positive reputation in the GOP for leading a series of investigations of the Obama administration.<\/p>\n Issa has cruised to reelection in the last two elections, but took a two-year break when he didn\u2019t seek re-election in 2018, after his previous district became increasingly Democratic.<\/p>\n Merging ideologically distinct communities<\/p>\n The Republican-leaning Lakeside is 64% white\u00a0 and has a median household income of $103,000 \u2014 14% higher than the $90,000 median in La Mesa, where about half the population is white, according to a\u00a02023 San Diego County report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Liberal Palm Springs, which would move into the proposed 48th District, is nearly 64% white and has a household income of $69,000, according to\u00a0a 2023 city report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Candidates running in the proposed new district would likely need to focus on affordability to appeal across its rural and urban regions, according to UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt will create a dynamic where a Democratic candidate will be looking both to capture moderate voters, but also to galvanize voters in deep blue Palm Springs,\u201d Kousser said.<\/p>\n