Program Description

This November, California voters will decide on Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would temporarily replace the current Citizens Redistricting Commission’s congressional map with new district lines drawn by the state legislature. Supporters frame the change as a response to Texas’s mid-decade redistricting; opponents call it a partisan power grab. 

What would this mean for Marin County? If Proposition 50 passes, Marin’s congressional boundaries — and thus its representation in Washington — would shift beginning with the 2026 elections. Dick Spotswood explores the origins of Proposition 50, the debate for and against it, and the specific impacts on Marin residents.

Speaker Bio

DICK SPOTSWOOD is the longtime politics and government columnist for the Marin Independent Journal. His column appears every Sunday and Wednesday in print and at MarinIJ.com. A San Francisco native, Dick is a former Mill Valley city council member (1980-92) and three-term Mayor. He served for ten years (1982-92) as a Director of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District representing Marin’s eleven cities and towns. After four decades as an attorney, Dick has now retired from practicing law.