Tom Steyer is jumping into the California redistricting fight to help Democrats
By David Wright, CNN
(CNN) — Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer announced Thursday that he would spend $12 million backing California Democrats’ redistricting push this fall, becoming the latest megadonor to enter the high-stakes contest.
Steyer, who ran for president in 2020, will fund what his team is calling a “guerilla style” ad campaign, with the first spot set to run tonight on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” weeks after the hosts’ high-profile clash with the Trump administration over his on-air rhetoric.
The ad appears aimed at provoking President Donald Trump, mockingly portraying Trump throwing food at a TV after a hypothetical victory for supporters of the referendum.
“This is bad. Stop the count!” says an actor portraying Trump, as a news broadcast in the background suggests the imagined outcome could lead Congress to “investigate him for corruption, and even release the Epstein files.”
Proponents of the redistricting push have framed it as part of broader resistance to Trump, who pushed Texas and other Republican-led states to redraw their US House maps ahead of next year’s midterms.
California Democrats created a November referendum to institute temporary new US House maps that would give Democrats a better chance at winning five additional seats, the same number of seats Texas Republicans drew for the GOP.
Steyer’s support, meanwhile, should help Democrats maintain an overall edge on the airwaves as the redistricting campaign enters its final weeks.
According to the latest data from AdImpact, since Sept. 1, proponents of the redistricting referendum have spent about $44 million, while opponents have spent about $27 million. Millions more are being spent on field organizing, polling and mailers.
Steyer’s entry also helps to offset the contributions of a major megadonor backing the “No,” effort, Charles Munger Jr., son of the famed investor. Munger, who spent more than a decade as a dominating force in California politics before stepping back in 2016, has already spent more than $30 million to defend the reforms he helped pass more than 15 years ago.
State Democrats are hoping to convince voters to allow the party to temporarily override congressional maps drawn by an independent commission to create as many as five new US House seats for Democrats.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has argued California must “fight fire with fire” after Republicans in Texas and other states redrew their US House maps at the behest of Trump, who is trying to prevent Democrats from regaining House control in next year’s midterm elections. If Proposition 50 passes, the state would reimplement independent congressional lines in 2031.
The-CNN-Wire
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