Reality Check Hits GOP in Cali Redistricting Fight

When the California Supreme Court chose the state’s Redistricting Commission Senate maps recently, it was a real blow to the Republican Party in the Golden State. In the newly drawn maps that were approved by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, it appears that the GOP would lose a few seats in the State Senate.

When Proposition 11, which took the ability to draw legislative districts out of the hands of the state legislature, was passed back in November 2008, it was considered a win for then-Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger had wanted to create more competitive legislative districts to lessen the partisan divide in Sacramento. And for some 20-plus years prior to this initiative passing in the 2008 general election, the Democrats and their allies had defeated five other attempts to take redistricting out of the hands of the Democratic legislature and place it with a citizen commission or a panel of judges.

Four years ago it seemed like the possible winners in the redistricting game, which would now be determined by a panel of California citizens, would be Republicans. Even civil rights groups like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO-EF), and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund came out against Prop. 11 along with numerous Democratic clubs scattered throughout the state.

One of the reasons MALDEF opposed the referendum was the established 14 member citizen commission:  there was no guarantee that it would be diverse. However, the Commissioners did end up being a diverse representation of Californians. Yet, one could have assumed that given the lower socioeconomic status of some ethnic groups within the state, that it might have been more difficult to find participants who are representative of the state’s diversity.

But, the fact that the citizen-dominated Redistricting Commission (made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and four decline-to-state political affiliation voters) drew up maps that would possibly cause the GOP to lose seats in the State Senate is what prompted Republicans to file a lawsuit and pursue a ballot measure to void the new boundaries. If the GOP loses a few seats in the Senate, the Democrats could gain a super majority that would allow them to more easily raise taxes, so say Republicans on the subject.

Four years ago, the California Republican Assembly, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Governor Schwarzenegger, and Meg Whitman among other high profile Republicans and Independents supported Proposition 11. California voters supported the creation of the Commission, which was not dominated by any party, to draw district lines based on results from the 2010 Census.

The California Supreme Court’s decision said that the Commission drawn maps for legislative districts were legal and better than alternatives proposed by Republicans. Ironically, the California Supreme Court only has one Democratic appointee. The map created by the Citizens Redistricting Commission may just reflect the reality that Republicans are losing ground in California than any sort of partisan snub.

The latest statistics released by the California Secretary of State show that only 30.36% of registered voters in the state identify as Republican, while 43.63% identify as Democratic. In 2008, 33.45% of registered voters identified as Republican, and 42.71% identified as Democratic. At this point, the Republican Party in California needs to do some soul searching and determine where it can work with the Democratic Governor legislature. Trying to undo the will of the voters and what many Republicans initially supported in creating the Citizens Redistricting Commission will utilize resources that could be spent on recruiting more moderate candidates who may have a better chance of winning in a state like California.

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