Gov. Gavin Newsom has raised roughly $70 million in less than two months for the California ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional lines, with the family of the prominent Democratic financier George Soros recently kicking in $10 million, according to two people with direct knowledge of the fund-raising.
The $10 million donation makes the Soros family the single largest funder in favor of the redistricting ballot measure. And it comes at a moment when President Trump has explicitly called for Mr. Soros and his son Alex to be investigated as part of an escalation of his efforts to clamp down on political opposition.
Mr. Newsom has cast the measure, Proposition 50, as a way for Democrats to counter efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to squeeze more safe districts out of red states before the 2026 midterms. Texas has already approved new gerrymandered maps that deliver as many as five new Republican seats in the U.S. House. Control of Congress, and Mr. Trump’s ability to enact his agenda relatively unchecked by lawmakers, is at stake next fall.
The California measure on the ballot in November will ask voters in the state to adopt new maps that would create as many as five new safe Democratic seats, effectively canceling out Texas.
The fight to sway Californians on which way to vote — yes or no — is expected to top $200 million. The people with knowledge of the Newsom fund-raising effort spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose numbers not yet made public.
Mr. Trump has increasingly focused on Mr. Soros and his family, claiming without evidence that Mr. Soros has fomented violent protests.
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