California Gov. Gavin Newsom was blunt, sounded alarm bells, and urged the nation to “wake up” during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Newsom said President Donald Trump is planning on “rigging” the 2026 midterm elections, and the Democrat warned the time for playing games — or going high when Trump goes low — is over.
“I don’t believe he believes in fair and free elections, I don’t. And I think people need to wake up to that and take this moment seriously,” Newsom told MTP host Kristen Welker.
The governor brought up the 2020 presidential election and Trump’s phone call to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During the infamous call, Trump said to Raffensperger: “I just want to find 11,780 votes.”
Newsom told Welker that call was one of many signs “they’re not playing around.”
The MTP conversation then turned to California’s Prop 50 ballot measure, which would give state leaders permission to gerrymander congressional districts ahead of next year’s midterms.
The proposition — officially called the “Election Rigging Response Act” — is meant to counter a Texas redistricting plan encouraged by Trump.
The website for the ballot measure shows menacing pictures of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“[Trump] did not expect California to fight fire with fire,” Newsom told Welker. “He expected us, as so often is the case, to try to argue for what’s the right thing to do. He did not expect us to do what we did in unprecedented fashion.”
Left-leaning California has 52 representatives in the U.S. House — 43 Democrats and 9 Republicans, according to the California Chamber of Commerce. Prop 50 would redraw voting districts to take away five GOP-held seats.
Seemingly unaware of the latest polls, Welker asked Newsom if he thinks Prop 50 will pass.
“I’m deeply confident, as long as we do everything that we’ve set out to do over the next few days,” he responded, before pivoting to sports metaphors.
“We don’t believe in running the 90-yard dash. We run at peak, the 110-yard dash,” he stated. “It’s a special election. We’ve seen an unprecedented number of ballots already sent in.”
California Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican whose district would turn blue under Prop 50, has denounced the measure.
“What Newsom is trying to do here is to entrench even more power in the hands of a corrupt political class that has caused California to go from being the most beautiful state in the country to being the most popular state to leave,” Kiley told Fox Business Network over the weekend.
The numbers show things are not looking good for Kiley.
California’s secretary of state said as of Sunday, Nov. 2, a total 6,674,591 ballots had already been cast.
The latest survey shows the majority of voters back the measure. The Berkeley IGS Poll was completed last week and found 60% of likely voters marking Yes on their ballots, while 38% said they would vote no on Prop 50.
“The Yes side holds a two-to-one lead among those surveyed who said they had already voted, with 67% reportedly voting Yes and 33% reporting voting No,” pollsters said in a press release on Oct. 30.
California’s special election is Tuesday, Nov. 4. Voters can cast ballots by mail, ballot drop box, or in person at a voting center. Polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm PT.
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