Unethical? CA Redistricting Commissioner Pushes Newsom's Election Rigging Act, Shrieking About Trump

The hooraw about redistricting in California and elsewhere continues apace, and promises to be one of the biggest spectacles in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections. For that matter, redistricting will almost certainly have an impact on the 2028 elections, in which we'll decide who will replace Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

In the latest round of snap and slash, California Citizens' Redistricting Commissioner Sara Sadhwani has recorded a video clip touting Proposition 50, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act. Gavin Newsom et al are pushing it as an answer to claims of gerrymandering in Texas and other red states, and boy, if the left accusing the right of rigging congressional districts isn't a case of projection that can be measured on the Richter scale, I don't know what might be.

Here, look at the video clip:

Why do independent election experts support Prop 50? It's simple. Donald Trump's scheme to rig the next election is an emergency for our democracy. Prop 50 will put the election back on a level playing field by giving the people the power to approve emergency maps to counter Trump's power grab. And Prop 50 is temporary, reaffirming California's commitment to independent, nonpartisan redistricting for the long term. For a fair election in all 50 states, vote yes on 50.

Is it belaboring the obvious to note that the president has nothing whatsoever to do with redrawing congressional districts?

Now, this person, this commissioner, Sara Sadhwani, makes no pretense of her partisanship. She has been pretty active pushing Prop 50. She spoke at the impeccably coiffed Governor Newsom's pro-redistricting rally in August, as my friend and colleague Jennifer Oliver O'Connell reported at that time; and RedState's own Jennifer Van Laar noted Sadhwani's partisan leanings, also in August. Jennifer wrote:

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom held a rally disguised as a press conference to announce his "Election Rigging Response Act," which is actually a plan to sidestep the California Constitution and the will of the state's voters, to implement a politically-motivated gerrymander of the state's congressional district maps for use in elections in 2026, 2028, and 2030. [CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica] Salas was in the audience, and the first speaker was Sara Sadhwani, a member of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, who startled watchers with her highly partisan speech. 

But wait! There's more! About Sara Sadhwani's career, Jennifer wrote:

Sadhwani started her career in leftist activism right out of college as the federal policy director for, you guessed it, CHIRLA, and the two have stayed in touch over the years, speaking on panels together and working collaboratively on behalf of "marginalized communities." Applicants for the commission can attach up to three letters of recommendation to their application; the first letter attached to Sadhwani's application is from Salas, who stated:

"Doctor Sadhwani demonstrated a well-developed ability to synthesize and communicate complex law and policy in way that made it accessible for broader public consumption - a skill set that will enhance her role as part of the commission set out to redraw the state's districts. Also during her tenure, she led CHIRLA's advocacy efforts on the national scale, collaborating with national policy experts to review and develop legislative proposals.

"When Professor Sadhwani moved on from CHIRLA, I continued to observe her work at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, where she worked with communities across the state to mobilize a statewide network of Asian American advocates."

This commission is supposed to be non-partisan, or whatever passes for non-partisan in California. The California Constitution, in Article 11, Section 2, notes that the commission should consist of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four non-partisan, presumably independent members. The members must have voted in two of the three previous elections, and must not have changed political parties in the five years before their appointment.

Shilling for Prop 50, by an identified member of the commission, is anything but non-partisan. 

Here's notorious California lib partisan Paul Mitchell, who is married to the head of California Planned Parenthood, and who reportedly drew the proposed maps for the redistricting effort, chiming in on X.

Great ad featuring @sarasadhwani hitting the airwaves and streaming for the #Prop50 campaign. https://t.co/UA1KrXxkoZ

— Paul Mitchell (@paulmitche11) September 2, 2025

Oh please. 

Finally, we have the Redistricting Commission's website, claiming they have no vested interest in Prop 50:

The Commission has absolutely no involvement in the Governor’s efforts to replace the state’s Congressional maps. The Governor’s proposed Congressional maps were drawn by the Legislature, not the Commission. In addition, the Commission has no affiliation with any organization lobbying for or against this proposition. 

Horse squeeze. The behavior of their own members puts the lie to that statement.

This is naked partisanship on the part of everyone involved. It gets worse: If California Democrats would just play a game of mirror, mirror on the wall, they'd see they are the most hypocritical ones of all on this issue. A quick look at California's congressional district map is revealing. California isn't as bad as, oh, Illinois, but the Bay Area districts of 12 and 15 are rather torturous, and in the Los Angeles area, District 28 appears to have a dagger made up of District 31 thrust into its midsection, while District 47 forms an odd "L" shape from Irvine into the coast and up past Huntington Beach. 

Outside of the once-Golden state? If you want a real face-palmer, look at Illinois districts 13 and 17.

Read More: Kids, What Kids? CA Teachers Union Pours Millions Into Gavin Newsom's Radical Redistricting Effort

This whole thing is approaching hysterical levels. The simple fact is this: The advantageous redrawing of congressional districts, or gerrymandering, has gone on since the founding of the republic, and it will go on as long as our republic lasts. It's an inevitable facet of how our system of congressional representation is set up. The Democrats have been doing it forever; in areas like the Baltimore metropolitan area, some districts wander like a snake, from north, south, east, west; they'd go up if they could figure out how, just to come up with one more Democrat seat.

So now Republicans are (finally) fighting on the rules Democrats established, and it turns out that the GOP is holding all the top cards. In simple English, we're better at it than they are. Well, to the Democrats who are now shouting about election rigging, all I can say is, "sucks to be you." 

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