Opinion: Don’t surrender your lunch money to a bully

As chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, I read the Union-Tribune’s recent editorial with a mix of disbelief and frustration. In criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed redistricting measure as a “Trump-style power grab,” the board reveals a stunning naïveté about the realities of American politics today.

The piece, which urges San Diegans to reject the plan, essentially advises us to roll over in the face of relentless Republican aggression. This is not just shortsighted — it is dangerously reckless — ignoring the broader context of a national battle where one side plays by its own rules while demanding the other play nice.

Let us be clear about what is happening: Republicans in states like Texas, Florida and North Carolina have spent years gerrymandering districts with surgical precision. They have drawn maps that pack Democratic voters into as few seats as possible, dilute the power of communities of color, and lock in majorities that do not reflect the will of the people.

In Texas — the state that started this recent gerrymandering arms race — recent redistricting efforts have been accused of racial gerrymandering, disenfranchising Latino and Black voters to protect GOP incumbents.

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis personally redrew lines to eliminate Black-majority districts, handing his party extra seats. And in North Carolina, the state Supreme Court, packed with Republican justices, approved maps that could flip multiple congressional seats red.

These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a coordinated strategy to entrench minority rule, inspired by the same authoritarian playbook the Editorial Board rightly associates with Donald Trump.

The board’s response? Do nothing. Let the bullies keep taking. It decries Newsom’s plan to adjust California’s districts as mimicry of Trump, but fails to acknowledge that it is a direct counter to these assaults.

The measure aims to protect Democratic representation in Congress by creating lines that reflect California’s diverse, progressive electorate. Without this, Democrats risk losing control of the House, paving the way for Trump’s agenda: a cruel crackdown on immigrants, more tax cuts for the wealthy, attacks on reproductive rights and the erosion of environmental protections in favor of corporate greed.

The board’s position seems to be the result of a lack of context. It treats California’s proposal in a vacuum, as if politics were a gentleman’s game where virtue alone wins the day. Unfortunately, we live in an era where one party has abandoned norms, from Jan. 6 to voter suppression laws. Ignoring this invites defeat.

Standing up to bullies is not optional, it is essential for survival and justice. History shows that appeasement leads to greater aggression. Think of schoolyard dynamics: If a bully demands your lunch money and you comply, they’re emboldened and come back tomorrow for more.

No reasonable person believes the solution is to let them do whatever they want. Instead, you rally friends, alert authorities, or you fight back directly to restore balance. In the same way, Democrats cannot unilaterally disarm while Republicans arm themselves to the teeth.

Doing so would surrender not just seats, but the ability to fight for working families, climate action and civil rights.

Of course, the ideal is nationwide redistricting reform, like the For the People Act, to end gerrymandering once and for all. But until Republicans join that effort, which they have blocked repeatedly, California must defend itself. Newsom’s plan is not a power grab; it is necessary self-defense against a national threat. By overlooking this, the Union-Tribune’s editorial promotes surrender disguised as principle.

Voters in California have demonstrated a clear opposition to the Trump agenda. Now it is time for us to take action. Support the redistricting measure Proposition 50 on Nov. 4. Stand up to the bullies, or watch them take everything. California deserves leaders who fight back, not editorials that wave the white flag of surrender.

Rodriguez-Kennedy is the chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party and lives in Downtown.