Streetsblog California endorses Proposition 50, the Election Rigging Response Act. Streetsblog urges a yes vote, either by mail or on election day, Tuesday, November 5, 2025.
Normally, Streetsblog would sit out a vote on redistricting. But as California strives to meet its own goals for clean air, electrification, safer cities, more transportation options, and transit expansion, it has become clear that the state needs more allies in Congress who believe in these goals. While we believe in healthy political dialogue and working across the aisle, it has become clear that redistricting efforts in other states will, by design, aid the Trump Administration’s efforts to continue its assault on California’s more progressive policies.
It has also become clear that while the courts may push back on the administration’s repeated overreach, in the end the Supreme Court will basically always side with Trump - often twisting itself into logical pretzels to justify their rulings. The administration is on an unheard of 16 case winning streak in front of the high court, and many of those cases involved overturning the opinions of several lower courts.
A Republican Congress will do little more than cheer when Trump attacks California. The Republicans from California are often leading the charge.
So when Trump colluded with Texas Governor Greg Abbot to redistrict Texas to remove Democrat controlled seats, we see no reason for California to not respond.
And let’s be clear, the chance to have a Democratic Congress may be the state’s only chance to clean our air and improve our cities.
California frequently leads the nation when it comes to clean air, renewable energy, and forward-thinking transportation policy. From the pioneering days of the California Air Resources Board to today’s ambitious investments in high-speed rail, our state has repeatedly chosen a future that prioritizes public health, climate resilience, and economic growth.
Proposition 50 continues that tradition. By voting Yes on Prop 50, Californians can send a clear message that we will not allow our progress to be undermined by Washington politicians who would rather drag us backward than help us move forward.
If you still need convincing, here’s just a couple of ways that the Trump Administration has targeted California’s Climate Change, transportation reform, and pollution reduction efforts.
Earlier this year, the administration and Republicans in Congress teamed up to revoke the state’s ability to set its own clean air and clean fuel standards. California had this right for decades, and it led to a sharp reduction in the amount of smog in the air. The state is suing, arguing that the federal government lacks the authority to tell states how to clean their air.
At the same time, the Trump administration is clawing back billions of dollars Congress had already allocated to California’s high-speed rail project. Earlier this week, they announced a program that uses federal money set aside for the country’s only High-Speed Rail project under construction - to instead redirect funds to projects in areas with “high birth rates and high marriage rates.”
Also earlier this week, the administration announced that it was cancelling federal grants for projects that are “hostile” to automobiles, as though cars are now a constituency that is more important than actual people. Governing Magazine reports that a San Diego road diet project was one of the first casualties of this ideological overreach.
Ideology also trumped local needs when AC Transit had to refuse a federal transit safety grant because it would have required the agency to collaborate and share information with ICE.
Prop 50 reaffirms Californians’ desire to set higher clean air standards, and build transportation projects that don’t worsen the global spiral into climate disaster.
Clean air is not a partisan issue; it is a public health necessity. High-speed rail is not a vanity project; it is an investment in California’s long-term prosperity. Road diets are not a "war on cars," they are an investment in clean cities. People in all political parties deserve to be safe on transit.
On November’s ballot, vote Yes on Prop 50. Let’s keep California moving forward.
