Sonoma County Board of Supervisors urges voters to support Prop. 50

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has endorsed Proposition 50, the state’s disputed congressional redistricting initiative intended to offset Texas’ mid-decade redistricting in favor of Republicans.

The board on Tuesday unanimously approved a letter encouraging Sonoma County voters to support the proposition in the Nov. 4 special election. Other governing boards throughout the state have taken similar steps, including the Napa County Board of Supervisors, which endorsed the ballot measure last week.

Spearheaded by Gov. Gavin Newsom and backed by the supermajority of Democrats in the Legislature, Prop. 50 proposes swapping out the state’s current congressional districts, set by an independent, appointed commission, for a map drawn by the Legislature to favor Democrats in 2026 — and neutralize Texas’ maneuver pushed by President Donald Trump to retain GOP control of the U.S. House.

California’s new map, if passed, would be in effect until 2030. The California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission would resume oversight in 2031.

Santa Rosa has emerged as a key piece of efforts to establish one of the newly drawn Northern California districts favorable to Democrats, who enjoy an overwhelming majority by party registration in the more densely populated North Bay but are outnumbered in most rural counties farther north and east, where Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa is the incumbent.

If the map is passed, Santa Rosa would become the voting core of the newly drawn 1st District favoring a Democrat.

It would take in Santa Rosa at its southern tip, extend up the Highway 101 corridor through the eastern half of Mendocino County, while sweeping east to take in much of Lake County, as well as Glenn and Tehama counties in the Sacramento Valley, and Butte, Plumas and Lassen counties, extending to the Nevada border.

The vast 2nd District, meanwhile, represented by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and stretching currently along the coast from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border, would be pushed closer to the coast in Sonoma County while having the top third of its territory extend from the Pacific coast to the Nevada border, a massive swath currently in LaMalfa’s 1st District.

The 4th District, represented by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, would be pushed mostly to the east, taking in the southern corners of Sonoma and Lake counties, all of Napa, Colusa, Sutter and Yuba counties and parts of Yolo, Sacramento and Placer counties.

When the proposed map was first released board Chair Lynda Hopkins authored a lengthy Facebook post critical of redistricting that would dilute the rural vote and split more of western Sonoma County, which she represents, into separate congressional districts.

The post drew heavy criticism prompting Hopkins to clarify that she does not oppose redistricting.

The board’s vote on Tuesday authorized Hopkins to sign the Prop. 50 letter in her capacity as board chair.

All five of the board members are registered Democrats, though their elected offices are nonpartisan.

Of the five, only two offered any comments Tuesday during the 5-0 roll call vote. Supervisor David Rabbitt questioned whether it was appropriate for the board to weigh in on the partisan issue.

“It does give me a little angst because we are supposed to be a nonpartisan board,” he said.

Vice Chair Rebecca Hermosillo took the opportunity to respond when casting her vote. If Texas hadn’t pushed forward with its own mid-decade redistricting, she said, “we wouldn’t be here.”

During a separate board meeting held in the evening about expected impacts from federal funding cuts, Supervisor Chris Coursey tied those impacts — expected to strain departments and nonprofits — to Prop. 50. Should Republicans maintain their majority in Congress following midterm elections, Coursey said, Sonoma County will be in “even more trouble than we are today.”

Several members of the public on Tuesday asked the board to approve the letter, describing Prop. 50 as necessary to safeguard democracy amid the national fight over congressional control.

“Yes on 50 is crucial to restore some checks and balances to four federal government,” said Beth Hadley, President of Sonoma Valley Democrats and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry’s representative on the Sonoma County Democratic Party Central Committee.

“It’s not accurate to say that this is a state issue and that we should not take a stand at the county level, because rather than working for the good of all Americans, this administration is targeting blue districts, and that includes our beautiful county,” Hadley later added.