Exclusive: Obama urged Newsom on California's Prop 50 redistricting push
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom called former President Barack Obama before launching his aggressive Proposition 50 redistricting push, expecting a warning to play it safe. Instead, he was told to push ahead.
State of play: Newsom said during an interview on "The Axios Show" that he went into the call "very nervous," not to secure Obama's endorsement but to get a gut check on a strategy he knew could divide Democrats.
- He expected Obama — long associated with the party's "when they go low, we go high" ethos — to urge caution rather than provide the encouragement that helped catapult the redistricting campaign.
"I didn't even get into the conversation and he says, 'I just want to let you know I like what you're saying and I hope you do this,'" Newsom said on the show's latest episode.
- "It just sort of moved us into a different gear ... and he really supported that campaign," Newsom added.
The big picture: The exchange signals a broader Democratic shift toward a more confrontational approach to political power and norms amid fears that Republicans are no longer playing by the same rules.
- Newsom framed Prop 50 as a break from traditional restraint — a willingness to engage more directly in partisan redistricting battles in response to what he views as Republican efforts to rig the system.
- He said Obama helped campaign for the measure and boosted a strategy that may have otherwise faced sharper backlash.
- "He gave us the cover and the moral authority despite all of his work that he did around independent redistricting," Newsom said. "Because I'll remind you that Prop 50 was about fighting fire with fire."
Catch up quick: California voters approved Prop 50 — dubbed the Election Rigging Response Act — in November with nearly 65% support.
- The measure was a direct response to Texas Republicans' move to redraw congressional maps to gain seats. It gave California lawmakers the authority to redraw their own map, flipping five GOP-held districts into Democratic-leaning territory.
- Supporters have described it as a temporary response, given that the map will be in place for only the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. The state's independent redistricting commission will redraw maps as planned after the 2030 U.S. Census.
The other side: Opponents warned it would undo voter-approved reforms, politicize mapmaking, and set a dangerous precedent.
Between the lines: Newsom has acknowledged those concerns, given the nonpartisan value of independent redistricting efforts, but he argued the broader fight over election integrity took precedence.
- The governor cast the initiative as a defensive response to what he sees as growing efforts by President Trump and his allies to tilt future elections. In Newsom's telling, the question is no longer just whether to uphold norms, but how to respond when those norms are no longer shared by both sides.
The bottom line: "The Trump presidency is trying to rig the election before one vote is cast this November — that's how serious this moment is," Newsom said.