Tom Campbell: Proposition 50 won’t check Trump, but will silence Californians

In Proposition 50, California Democratic Party leaders have asked voters to approve a new map for California’s congressional districts to “fight fire with fire,” in response to Texas Republicans’ drawing a new map for their state’s congressional districts.

Their announced purpose is to turn the House Democratic to check President Donald Trump.

Even if they are successful, however, there is nothing they can do without a 2/3 majority in each chamber of Congress to check the president. Any bill they pass to constrain President Trump will be vetoed by him, and it takes 2/3 of both houses to overturn a veto. A Democratic House could stop President Trump’s legislation from passing. But the Senate can already do that, since 60 votes are needed to break a Democratic filibuster, and Republicans have only 53 senators. Watch what happens at the end of this month, as the resolution to keep the government open gets filibustered, and you will see what power the Democrats already have.

It’s true that the Democratic senators couldn’t filibuster a budget reconciliation bill, but the “Big Beautiful Bill” has already been passed. It got that name because President Trump crowded everything he wanted from Congress into that one bill and he has no plans to introduce changes. As a result, there is nothing a Democratic majority in the House can do to stop President Trump’s bills that the Democratic senators cannot already do by filibuster, and there is nothing a Democratic House majority can do to pass their own laws if President Trump disapproves.

What a Democratic controlled House could do is hold hearings, incessantly, to expose the failures of President Trump’s administration.  They could try to subpoena documents and witnesses, but, just as President Obama’s Attorney General refused to respond to subpoenas in the “Fast and Furious” investigation, so President Trump’s appointees will get away with stonewalling the House.  The president who controls the Department of Justice controls whom will be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. President Obama did not prosecute Attorney General Holder though Holder was held in contempt by the House. The same will be true with subpoenas from a Democratic Party-controlled House.

So, the effect of taking hold of the House is only to give the Democratic Party leaders a publicity platform. Since President Trump cannot run again, this will all be in service of some as-yet unknown Democratic candidate to defeat some as-yet unknown Republican candidate in 2028.

The price Californians must pay to achieve the Democrats’ publicity objective affects those of us with views that are occasionally in the minority on national policies that affect Californians. There should be a place for minority views among California House members.  There are 43 Democrats and 9 Republicans representing California in Congress. Proposition 50 will change that to 48 Democrats and 4 Republicans.  Suppose we were considering the State Legislature instead of the US House, and Proposition 50 proposed 80 state-wide at-large Assembly districts and 40 state-wide at-large State Senate districts. The result would be 120 Democrats, and no one else, in the State Legislature. If 0% minority views is unacceptable, isn’t 7.7% almost as bad?

Many issues vital to California come before Congress. Water policy is one, immigration is another. Californians have differing views on those important subjects, and we live with the consequences of what the Congress enacts. Congressmembers from other states can more easily ignore the views of just four out of 52 members as outliers than they would nine. And when California’s interests require a bipartisan approach, there is a better chance of a moderate Republican who can strike a deal among nine than among four.

California should send to Congress members representing a full spectrum of California citizens’ views, minority as well as majority. Proposition 50 almost completely silences minority California viewpoints in Congress until January 2033 – with no chance of changing any legislative outcomes.

Tom Campbell was a Republican House Member for five terms, representing the San Francisco Bay Area. He left the Republican party in 2016 and is now trying to create a new party: the California Common Sense Party. He teaches constitutional law and economics at Chapman  University.