The man who drew California’s proposed maps says he will not campaign for Prop 50
California Politics 360: The man who drew California’s proposed maps says he will not campaign for Prop 50
EDIE. I’M JOINED NOW BY PAUL MITCHELL, THE HEAD OF REDISTRICTING PARTNERS. HE IS THE MAN BEHIND THOSE PROPOSED MAPS. PAUL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING TIME. THANKS FOR HAVING ME. SO JUST WITH YOU HAVING DRAWN THESE MAPS, DEMOCRATS HIRED YOUR FIRM, REDISTRICTING PARTNERS, TO DO THEM, WILL YOU BE PART OF THE YES ON 50 CAMPAIGN? WELL, NO, I’M NOT ACTUALLY A PART OF THE YES ON 50 CAMPAIGN. I’M IN THIS IN THIS CAPACITY, WORKING SOLELY AS A LINE DRAW. SO MY FIRM, REDISTRICTING PARTNERS, HAS DONE OVER 100 LOCAL REDISTRICTING IN CALIFORNIA CITIES, COUNTIES, SCHOOL BOARDS. JUST ON THURSDAY NIGHT, I HAD A MEETING WITH A LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD IN SAN JOSE, WHERE THEY’RE REDRAWING THEIR BOUNDARIES. SO A LOT OF MY WORK HAS BEEN IN THIS NONPARTISAN REDISTRICTING. SO WHEN THIS WHOLE THING CAME UP AND AT FIRST IT WAS MORE JUST LIKE TRYING TO PUSH TEXAS TO NOT DO THEIR THING. RIGHT. IT WAS KIND OF LIKE, IF YOU’RE GOING TO DRAW FIVE DISTRICTS, WE’LL DRIVE FIVE DISTRICTS TO COUNTER YOU. IT WASN’T EVEN SEEMINGLY THAT IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. BUT WHEN WE FIRST STARTED LOOKING AT IT, IT WAS THAT HISTORY OF DOING LOCAL REDISTRICTING THAT BROUGHT ME TO THIS. AND I THINK WE DID THE BEST WE COULD TO TRY TO COUNTER COUNTER TEXAS’S FIVE DISTRICT PICKUP. OKAY. I MEAN, ZOOMING OUT WITH THESE MAPS, I MEAN, THERE ARE CONCERNS FROM COMMUNITIES WHO ARE SPEAKING OUT. I KNOW YOU’VE SAID YOU’VE TRIED TO ABIDE BY THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, BUT LODI, FOR EXAMPLE, IS SPLIT INTO THREE DISTRICTS. AND OFFICIALS THERE WORRY THERE AREN’T ENOUGH CONSTITUENTS TO CARE ABOUT WHEN THE COMMUNITY IS SPLIT APART LIKE THAT. A SIMILAR SITUATION IN FRESNO COUNTY, WHICH IS BEING SPLIT INTO SIX PARTS, AND THEN ETHNIC GROUPS, INCLUDING ASIAN AMERICANS AND SACRAMENTO, BLACK VOTERS AND STOCKTON LATINO VOTERS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THOSE CONCERNS? WELL, SO FIRST OFF, THERE’S ALWAYS COMMUNITIES THAT ARE SPLIT IN REDISTRICTING. SO WE WERE ABLE TO BRING THE CITY OF MARTINEZ AND MAKE IT WHOLE IN THE DISTRICT PLAN. THE COUNTY OF SOLANO WAS SPLIT. WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE THAT WHOLE THE COUNTY. THE CITY OF VACAVILLE WAS SPLIT. WE’RE ABLE TO MAKE THAT WHOLE. SO THERE ARE ACTUALLY FEWER CITY SPLITS IN THIS PLAN THAN THERE WAS IN THE ORIGINAL COMMISSION PLAN. IT GOES FROM 60 CITY SPLITS STATEWIDE TO 57. SECONDLY, WITH REGARDS TO COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST LIKE THE ASIAN COMMUNITY, THERE WAS A STUDY DONE BY UCLA THAT ACTUALLY LOOKED AT THE DISTRICTS IN TOTAL AND SAID THAT THIS PLAN ACTUALLY IMPROVES ASIAN VOTING POWER. AND I EXPECT SOMETHING SIMILAR TO COME OUT FROM LATINO GROUPS THAT ARE LOOKING AT ANALYZING THIS TO DETERMINE HOW IT’S AFFECTING LATINO VOTING POWER, PARTICULARLY IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY, TO POSITIVELY IMPACT THOSE COMMUNITIES. SO THERE WILL BE ALWAYS IN REDISTRICTING, YOU KNOW, SOMEBODY WILL SAY, WAIT, THE DISTRICT LINE, THE PERSON ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME LIVES IN A DIFFERENT DISTRICT. THAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN EVERY REDISTRICTING AND EVERY REDISTRICTING DONE BY THE CITIZENS REDISTRICTING COMMISSION OR THE LEGISLATURE, OR THROUGH THIS BALLOT MEASURE, IS GOING TO HAVE CITIES THAT END UP GETTING SPLIT, BUT THERE’S FEWER CITIES SPLIT. SO OBJECTIVELY, IT’S ACTUALLY BETTER ON THAT METRIC THAN THE EXISTING COMMISSION PLAN. OKAY. SO YOU’RE YOU PUSH BACK AGAINST SOME OF THE LOCAL OFFICIALS THAT ARE SAYING THIS. I AGREE, I UNDERSTAND THEIR VIEWPOINT, BUT I ALSO WANT TO CONTEXTUALIZE IT THAT WHEN YOU’RE DRAWING DISTRICTS AND YOU HAVE TO KEEP ANTIOCH WHOLE. AS AN EXAMPLE, MAYBE ANTIOCH IN THIS PLAN AS WHOLE AND LODI IS SPLIT, AND IN ANOTHER DECADE MAYBE ANTIOCH WILL BE SPLIT LIKE THE COMMISSION SPLIT IT, SPLIT ANTIOCH AND LODI WILL BE WHOLE. SO THIS HAPPENS EVERY REDISTRICTING. I UNDERSTAND THIS IS A COMPLICATED PROCESS. I MEAN, IS THIS SOMETHING YOU WOULD EVER DO AGAIN IF ASKED? WELL, FIRST OFF, I DON’T THINK THIS IS EVER GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN. SO THIS BALLOT MEASURE AND THE REASON THAT IT’S GETTING A LOT OF VOTER SUPPORT, IT IS A TEMPORARY SET OF LINES THAT WILL GO INTO PLACE. AND IT GOES STRAIGHT BACK TO THE REDISTRICTING COMMISSION IN 2031. SO I THINK THIS IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN. SO I’M NOT GOING TO BE ASKED TO DRAW DISTRICTS IN THIS MANNER EVER AGAIN. AND MY ENTIRE WORK, WHETHER IT WAS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT OR DOING STATE REDISTRICTING, WHEN I DID NEW YORK INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION TWICE, OR NEW YORK CITY INDEPENDENT COMMISSION OR LA CITY INDEPENDENT COMMISSION. MY WORK HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN NONPARTISAN REDISTRICTING, MAKING SURE WE’RE NOT CONSIDERING WHERE INCUMBENTS LIVE. WE’RE TRYING TO DRAW DISTRICTS FOLLOWING THE FEDERAL VOTING RIGHTS ACT, FOLLOWING THE STATES FAIR MAPS ACT AND USING THE BEST GUIDANCE AND PRINCIPLES IN DRAWING LINES. AND SO THAT IS THE CORE OF OUR BUSINESS. AND THAT’S WHAT I EXPECT OUR BUSINESS TO BE FROM HERE ON OUT, JUST IN GENERAL. I MEAN, WHAT WE’RE SEEING PLAY OUT ACROSS THE NATION. JUST WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF IT? FINAL THOUGHTS? WELL, I THINK IT’S HORRIBLE THAT WE’RE IN A SITUATION WHERE WE’RE HAVING THIS DEVOLVING INTO REDISTRICTING WAR NATIONALLY. WE KNOW WHERE IT STARTED. IT STARTED WITH DONALD TRUMP GOING INTO TEXAS AND SAYING, I WON TEXAS BY SUCH BIG NUMBERS. I DESERVE FIVE MORE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. AND THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THIS MOVEMENT TO TRY TO CHANGE THE ELECTION STRUCTURE IN ADVANCE OF THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS, INSTEAD OF CANDIDATES GOING OUT AND GETTING LAWN SIGNS AND DOING POLLING AND HIRING CAMPAIGN STAFF, THEY’RE TRYING TO CHANGE THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE OF OUR ELECTIONS. SO THIS MOVE IS THE ONLY WAY CALIFORNIA CAN PUSH BACK. AND NATIONALLY, CALIFORNIA IS THE ONLY STATE IN THE POSITION TO BE ABLE TO EFFECTIVELY PUSH BACK. AND THAT’S WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT. AND IT IS JUST A ONE TIME THING. IT’S TEMPORARY. WE GO RIGHT BACK TO THE NORMS OF THE ESTABLISHED REDISTRICTING COMMISSION, WHICH WE ALL SUPPORT. AS SOON AS THIS IS ALL OVER. AL
As the campaigns for and against California’s Congressional Redistricting ballot measure known Proposition 50 ramp up their fight, the man who drew the maps says he’s staying out of it. Paul Mitchell, who heads the firm Democrats hired to redraw California’s proposed congressional lines, joined California Politics 360 and confirmed he is not and will not be part of the Yes on 50 campaign. California voters in November will decide if the state should adopt the maps Mitchell helped draw, which attempt to remove five Republicans from California’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and replace them with Democrats. California for the last two decades has relied on an independent redistricting commission to draw the lines. “In this capacity, I’m solely working as a line drawer,” Mitchell said. He noted his firm, Redistricting Partners has helped with more than 100 local redistricting efforts, work that requires him to do non-partisan work. Mitchell said California’s redistricting push at first seemed unlikely, suggesting it was more of a threat to Texas Republicans, who were eyeing and eventually passed maps that would take Democrats out of that state’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. “I think we did the best we could to try to counter Texas’ five district pickup,” he said. Mitchell defended the maps as some local officials across the state have raised concerns about their communities being split, including Lodi which will be sliced into three parts, and Fresno County into six. Ethnic groups in several parts of the state including Sacramento, Stockton and Southern California have warned Asian American, Black and Latino communities could have a weakened voice in Congress with the fractures. “Always in a redistricting somebody will say, ‘wait the district line, the person across the street from me lives in a different district.’ That’s going to happen in every redistricting,” Mitchell noted. When asked if this is something he would ever do again, he replied, “First off, I don’t think this is ever going to happen again.” Mitchell noted the maps are temporary, and the work will return to the independent commission after the next census in 2030. (Video below: Watch the full episode of California Politics 360.)See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
As the campaigns for and against California’s Congressional Redistricting ballot measure known Proposition 50 ramp up their fight, the man who drew the maps says he’s staying out of it.
Paul Mitchell, who heads the firm Democrats hired to redraw California’s proposed congressional lines, joined California Politics 360 and confirmed he is not and will not be part of the Yes on 50 campaign.
California voters in November will decide if the state should adopt the maps Mitchell helped draw, which attempt to remove five Republicans from California’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and replace them with Democrats. California for the last two decades has relied on an independent redistricting commission to draw the lines.
“In this capacity, I’m solely working as a line drawer,” Mitchell said. He noted his firm, Redistricting Partners has helped with more than 100 local redistricting efforts, work that requires him to do non-partisan work.
Mitchell said California’s redistricting push at first seemed unlikely, suggesting it was more of a threat to Texas Republicans, who were eyeing and eventually passed maps that would take Democrats out of that state’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I think we did the best we could to try to counter Texas’ five district pickup,” he said.
Mitchell defended the maps as some local officials across the state have raised concerns about their communities being split, including Lodi which will be sliced into three parts, and Fresno County into six.
Ethnic groups in several parts of the state including Sacramento, Stockton and Southern California have warned Asian American, Black and Latino communities could have a weakened voice in Congress with the fractures.
“Always in a redistricting somebody will say, ‘wait the district line, the person across the street from me lives in a different district.’ That’s going to happen in every redistricting,” Mitchell noted.
When asked if this is something he would ever do again, he replied, “First off, I don’t think this is ever going to happen again.” Mitchell noted the maps are temporary, and the work will return to the independent commission after the next census in 2030.
(Video below: Watch the full episode of California Politics 360.)
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
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