Bay Area partisans are fired up over California’s Prop 50 contest. Others? Not so much

Republican Max Hsia and about a dozen of his South Bay Patriots group gathered in the San Jose parking lot of Bass Pro Shops donned their red MAGA hats hung their No on Prop signs on a pop-up tent and tried to encourage a Charlie Kirk-style Prove Me Wrong debate with passers-by Republican Max Hsia who opposes Prop that would redraw five California congressional districts to favor Democrats holds a Charlie Kirk-style prove me wrong booth in the parking lot of a Bass Pro Shops in San Jose hoping to entice supporters of the measure to debate him on Oct Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group That s not what they got with Evangelina Zavala Instead she pulled her Subaru SUV into a nearby parking slot rolled down her windows and blasted the hip hop protest song Expletive Donald Trump Related Articles Yes on Prop campaign vastly outspends opponents as Voting Day nears Letters Vote yes on Prop to foil Donald Trump s policies Borenstein Proposition provides California s only hope to rein in Trump Proposition and more Our endorsements for California s Nov special voting process This California city banned the Pride flag Newsom s maps would give them a progressive gay congressman Hsia approached her We do have a microphone if you d like to speak your piece and share your thoughts he commented You guys can share your thoughts she mentioned I share my music With only one statewide measure on the Nov special voting ballot partisans are squaring off across the Bay Area Despite more than million spent on the ballot fight so far however various are tuning out Proposition would temporarily redraw the boundaries of California s congressional districts to help Democrats flip five of the nine seats now held by Republicans a Democratic countermove to a Republican-led effort in Texas But none of those five targeted districts are in the heavily Democratic Bay Area where its impact is less personal Swing Left volunteer Susan Brooks waits for a response at the door of a home while canvassing for advocacy for Proposition in Berkeley CA on Sunday October The only statewide measure on the ballot Prop moves five congressional seats to favor Democrats in response to Texas Republicans doing the same in their state to keep control of the House Don Feria for Bay Area News Group Partisans like Hsia and Zavala are fired up So is Democratic volunteer Debbie Raucher of Oakland who s been spending weekends knocking on doors to encourage Yes on votes and Republicans in San Jose like Carol Pefley who hang No on banners over freeway overpasses during rush hour But across the Bay Area others are barely tuning in In a region where locals are largest part concerned about sky-high housing prices and budget-busting groceries keeping up with an interstate political battle can seem irrelevant In the Bass Pro Shops parking lot the only shopper who took the mic was a man who needed to debate the legacy of the slain conservative activist Kirk rather than Proposition When Menlo College Professor Melissa Michelson sought her Politics class in San Mateo County last week about what s on the Nov ballot the majority of her students tried to look invisible They don t see how this affects their life It just seems like stupid politics Michelson declared And I think that is a huge obstacle for the Prop proponents To Zavala however a sixth-generation Californian it s all about her opposition to President Trump The -year-old mother has a planned trip to San Diego with her school-age son but she s nervous that she might be profiled and apprehended by federal ICE agents near the Mexican perimeter I m taking my mother who s a little bit lighter-skinned than me because I m afraid she announced I have a passport I m college educated I m taking birth certificates when we go down there because who knows right Pro-Prop videos coursing through social media are tapping into that fear Former President Barack Obama for instance narrates a commercial over images of ICE agent crackdowns saying Democracy is on the ballot Meanwhile former Republican California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger who had championed the state s voter-approved independent redistricting commission calls the measure insane and a big mistake Santa Clara County Republican Party Chair David Johnson top left and Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chair Bill James top right debate at the Almaden Valley Region Association in San Jose Calif on Monday Oct They debated Proposition and Measure A At far left is a doctored photograph of Governor Gavin Newsom who is a supporter of Proposition Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group In a state that voted overwhelmingly for former Vice President Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the presidential ballot a nearly - split Democrats have a huge advantage A newest poll conducted by the nonpartisan Cook Political Document determined that of registered voters supported Proposition compared with opposed Still nearly half of those were either soft on their position or undecided The ballot measure is part of an ongoing national congressional redistricting battle heating up ahead of the midterm elections How those districts are drawn can shape the outcome stoking accusations of gerrymandering drawing district boundaries to advantage one party over another Since California s Citizens Redistricting Commission has redrawn congressional lines after the -year Census indicates population shifts Six other states have similar systems while in greater part others including Texas lawmakers redraw the boundaries The U S Supreme Court in ruled that partisan gerrymandering is beyond the federal courts jurisdiction But it is now reviewing a section of The Voting Rights Act that bans gerrymandering intended to dilute the voting power of racial minorities If justices overturn it perhaps as early as January voting rights groups say it could heavily favor Republican congressional districts especially in the South President Trump called for Texas lawmakers to change the Congressional lines before the midterm elections to help Republicans maintain their majority Republicans say they re countering aggressive blue-state gerrymandering that already gives Democrats outsized congressional representation relative to their statewide vote share even in independently drawn California California has conservative voters and only representation in Congress declared Pefley who is running for state Assembly and attended a debate on the proposition in San Jose If Prop passes we ll have representation for of the population and that is not a constitutional republic A constitutional republic is supposed to be representative of the people And right now California is not Proposition essentially began as a bluff Democratic U S Rep Zoe Lofgren from the South Bay declared the threat was intended to deter Texas from going through with its mid-decade change since California would neutralize its Republican gains The Yes on campaign which Gov Gavin Newsom is pushing to adopt temporary gerrymandered congressional districts in California AP Photo Godofredo A V squez When it didn t California led by Trump antagonist and prospective presidential candidate Gov Gavin Newsom steamed ahead as well If the proposition passes the new congressional districts will be in place for the and elections California s independent redistricting commission would resume its work after the Census For certain Bay Area voters the political gamesmanship has overshadowed what they really care about the high cost of living here from housing to gas to groceries A poll by the San Francisco-based Latino Locality Foundation in late September revealed that of Latino voters planned to vote yes on Proposition and were still undecided In California the Democratic Party has generally won over the Latino district Two-thirds of them voted for Harris over Trump in November Max Hsia waves flags as he protests against Proposition and Measure A on the Samaritan Journeying pedestrian bridge over Highway in San Jose Calif on Wednesday evening Oct Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group But something that we ve seen in fresh years is an increase in the number of independents not loyal to any political party stated Christian Arana from the Latino Locality Foundation If our details is showing that are undecided these are winnable votes It s going to require contact and venture and instruction because in the midst of all the several problems that we re facing as Californians this is not something that is top of mind for numerous people Hsia who sponsored the rally at the Bass Pro Shops and also organizes freeway overpass rallies with Pefley disclosed he s happy when he gets a toot of a horn during rush hour a sign he hopes means the motorist agrees that Proposition is a bad idea In Oakland Raucher says she often encounters people as she canvases door-to-door who are unaware of the measure and specific are initially uncomfortable with the idea of redrawing congressional lines specifically to favor one party Each time she explains that these are not normal times she announced What I dependably say to them is unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions