To the editor: I strongly disagree with Mark Z. Barabak’s column lambasting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to counter Texas’ threatened redistricting (“Gavin Newsom is threatening to end-run California voters. It displays a horrible development,” July 23). When Proposition 20 handed in 2010, California voters nonetheless believed that our democracy was protected by a system of checks and balances. However issues have radically modified since then.
Undertaking 2025, a plan linked to a number of in President Trump’s administration and with which his insurance policies have to date intently aligned, means to undermine the very foundations our system is constructed on. California is underneath risk, with the federal authorities taking away funding and trampling our state’s authorized authorities. If Republicans in Texas and elsewhere primarily assist rig the 2026 elections by mid-decade redistricting, these of us who nonetheless consider in democracy should struggle again by profitable state-level elections and ensuring Texas Republicans can’t disproportionately seize energy within the nationwide election.
It could be naive to prioritize defending a 15-year-old poll measure when equity in our elections is at stake. I recognize that Newsom acknowledges this and I assist his proposal.
Judith Lipsett, Claremont
