Newsom's Gerrymander of California Has a Formidable Foe: Schwarzenegger

New York Times

2 days ago

A day after Gov. Gavin Newsom held a splashy campaign rally to debut his ballot measure to redraw California's congressional map, Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into a Santa Monica hotel for breakfast on Friday.
He was wearing a new custom-made T-shirt. It was emblazoned with an image of a raised fist, an expletive aimed at politicians and the phrase, 'Terminate Gerrymandering.'
As governor of California from 2003 to 2011, Mr. Schwarzenegger led the charge to do just that. He fought to overhaul how the state draws political maps, ultimately winning when voters passed a pair of ballot measures that took that power away from politicians and gave it to an independent commission.
Now, Mr. Newsom is asking voters to set the independent commission's work aside for the next three elections in favor of a map drawn to help elect more Democrats. He's pitching it as a temporary pause on California's bipartisan system that's necessary to counter a Republican gerrymander President Trump is seeking in Texas.
And Mr. Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, finds himself fighting to preserve a key plank of his legacy as governor, a reform that has allowed what he calls his post-partisan style of politics to endure in California even as a brawling hyperpartisanship has become the national norm.
'I hate the idea of the Republicans redrawing the district lines in Texas, as much as I hate what the Californians are trying to do,' Mr. Schwarzenegger said in an interview at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows.
'But I'm thinking now about California, and about the people of California. I promised them that we are going to create a commission that would be independent of the politicians, and there will be an independent citizens commission drawing the lines. So I'm not going to go back on my promise. I'm going to fight for my promise.'
Exactly how Mr. Schwarzenegger plans to wage this battle is still taking shape. It started with him asking an aide to design the T-shirt, which he wore to the gym Friday morning and then donned as he rode his electric bike to breakfast. As Mr. Schwarzenegger sat down in a private dining room filled with potted plants, a waiter brought him a dish of walnuts and raisins, and poured him a glass of watermelon juice.
Mr. Schwarzenegger is adamant that he won't align himself with the Republican Party as he campaigns against Mr. Newsom's ballot measure. He's no fan of Mr. Trump or the way the G.O.P. has evolved under the president's leadership. And he says he has a good relationship with Mr. Newsom, whom he said he has hosted at his home for meetings.
But Mr. Schwarzenegger said he planned to defend the system he helped create, even if it means an outcome that could help Mr. Trump and hurt Mr. Newsom.
'It's nothing personal,' said Mr. Schwarzenegger, who had moved on from walnuts and raisins to a plate loaded with a ham-and-vegetable omelet, a green salad and sourdough toast.
Mr. Newsom, Mr. Schwarzenegger added, is doing what he has to do to help the Democratic Party.
'He was kind enough to let me know what he's up to and how he feels,' Mr. Schwarzenegger said. 'I told him: 'I totally get it. I understand it.' I said, 'There's no effect on our relationship.''
Asked for comment, Mr. Newsom responded with a statement saying that he agrees on the need for independent redistricting across the nation but that 'this moment of crisis' demands California temporarily shift gears.
'Trump and his Texas cronies are trying to rig the 2026 election before a single person has voted,' read the statement from Mr. Newsom's campaign adviser, Courtni Pugh. 'This is a five alarm fire for our democracy. By voting yes in November, Californians have a chance' to put 'a real check on his power.'
Mr. Schwarzenegger's passion for the arcane issue of redistricting stems from his early experience as governor. When he first came into office after a career in acting and bodybuilding, Mr. Schwarzenegger said he wasn't aware that drawing district boundaries was a standard part of what lawmakers do.
But he quickly began to see how the makeup of a district shapes the decisions legislators make, and felt it hampered his ability to advance meaningful policies for California.
Mr. Schwarzenegger recalled talking to Democratic lawmakers about changing public education to empower parents at low-performing schools, and talking to Republican lawmakers about the need for more clean energy to curb climate change. In both cases, he said, the lawmakers said they agreed with his ideas but wouldn't vote for them because it would anger the voters in their districts.
He went back to his staff and said: 'I don't get that. They are for something, but they don't vote for it?' Mr. Schwarzenegger said his aides explained that the districts were drawn to include overwhelming shares of liberal or conservative voters, so that lawmakers would be assured re-election.
'I have seen it first-hand, how it's the evil of politics,' Mr. Schwarzenegger said of gerrymandering. 'It's very clearly an attack on the people's choice. It is gaining more power for the politicians.'
He championed a ballot measure in 2005 that sought to put redistricting in the hands of a panel of judges, arguing at the time that the lack of competition between the parties for California's legislative and congressional seats showed the need for a shake-up. The Democratic Party campaigned against the measure, and voters rejected it.
Three years later, he backed another measure that established California's independent redistricting commission. And in 2010, he supported a measure that expanded the commission's power to include drawing congressional districts. Since those measures passed, some regions in California have become fiercely competitive, and it's no longer uncommon for House seats to flip back and forth between the parties.
After leaving office, Mr. Schwarzenegger campaigned in other states, including Michigan and Ohio, in an effort to export California's model. He held news conferences at the Supreme Court when it considered cases about gerrymandering. But he has largely been a background figure in California politics, mostly working on fitness and acting, weighing in selectively on social media and even, once, fixing potholes in high-profile fashion after a series of winter storms.
He described opposing gerrymandering as a wonderful fight. He said he didn't buy the argument that California should do it because other states are. 'We are not going to go into a stinking contest with a skunk,' he said. 'We are moving forward.'