As a spokesperson stated with National Diplomat reporter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California has decided to counter a partisan gerrymandering proposal that Newsom hopes to place on the November ballot.
“He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it’s truly evil for politicians to take power from people,” said Ketchell. “He’s opposed to what Texas is doing, and he’s opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing.”
Schwarzenegger, California’s last Republican Governor, spearheaded the two constitutional amendments over a decade ago, which removed the power to draw legislative district boundaries from politicians and gave it to an independent commission. He has campaigned (with varied success) for similar changes in Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, and Ohio after helping pass those two measures in California.
As Newsom attempts to retake control of California’s U.S. House district boundaries ahead of the midterm elections in response to a Texas Republican-led gerrymandering effort, the battle seems to have circled back to Schwarzenegger. Newsom’s proposal would require voter approval due to the constitutional changes made by the Schwarzenegger amendments.
Newsom stated that he is “very” confident he can obtain the two-thirds legislative supermajority required to place the question on the special election ballot in November.
This new campaign is likely to motivate Schwarzenegger and bring back the “No” campaign that they incorporated in 2008 for Prop 11 and in 2010 for Prop 20. Many of the outside groups that supported good governance and were the backbone of the previous efforts — the League of Women Voters and California Common Cause — are opposing Newsom’s proposal.
Philanthropist and primary funder for the redistricting measures, Munger, incorporated the rest of the missing pieces to the puzzle. Last week, POLITICO reported he had been hiring focus groups and began polling as he prepared for a new campaign. Munger turned into one of the biggest benefactors of the California Republican Party after supporting Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger gained his first election experience with the recall election of Governor Gray Davis, and later went on to win a full term in 2006. His political career has remained stagnant ever since he went back to acting, aside from an occasional political appearance on issues like climate change and redistricting. His Netflix action comedy “FUBAR” is currently in its second season.
Schwarzenegger has emerged as a leading adversary of President Trump, labeling him “un-American” when endorsing Kamala Harris in the last election. The two former “Celebrity Apprentice” hosts could find themselves together as Donald Trump claims a Democratic Republic gerrymander would undermine Republican dominance, and Schwarzenegger argues for keeping politics free of party bias.
“It’s too early for him to fully unleash the standard Arnold gerrymandering stump speech,” Ketchell remarked. “But it’ll come.”
