‘Terminate gerrymandering’: Action film legend dives into California redistricting fight
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the high-stakes fight for control of the U.S. House, urging Golden State voters to reject a redrawn congressional map that he says will let politicians "take the power away from the people."
"It is insane," Schwarzenegger, the state's former Republican governor and the star of the action movie franchise "The Terminator," said of the Democratic-backed Proposition 50, a November ballot initiative intended to add five Democratic U.S. House seats in California, The Associated Press reported .
The effort, spearheaded by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, is intended to neutralize President Donald Trump's moves in Texas to gain five Republican districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
"It doesn't make any sense to me that because we have to fight Trump, to become Trump," Schwarzenegger said, according to the wire service. "Two wrongs don't make a right."
Newsom's plan calls for temporarily setting aside congressional districts that were crafted by an independent state commission and replacing them with districts crafted by Democrats that would boost the party's chances as it looks to retake control of the U.S. House next year.
If voters approve the map, they could slash five seats now held by Republicans while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts, the AP reported.
That could boost the Democratic margin to 48 of California's 52 congressional seats, up from the 43 seats the party now holds, the wire service reported.
Schwarzenegger signaled last month he would actively oppose the ballot proposal, posting a photo of himself lifting weights on the social platform X while in a T-shirt imprinted with the slogan, "Terminate Gerrymandering," and a partially obscured obscenity aimed at "the politicians," the AP reported.
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