OPINION: Stop the power grab. Vote no on Prop 50.

I have spent my life serving a community that believes in fairness, hard work, and the promise that every voice counts. Proposition 50 betrays that promise. It hands power back to politicians who think they are above the people. It rips control away from voters and gives it to insiders behind closed doors. That is not democracy. That is a power grab.

Californians created an independent redistricting commission because we were tired of politicians drawing their own safe seats. We demanded transparency. We demanded public input. We demanded maps that respected communities. Prop 50 wipes that away. It substitutes secret political maps for community voices. It tells voters to sit down and accept what the political class has already cooked up.

Everyone loses when politicians rig the lines. Independents lose. Republicans lose. Democrats lose. But I am especially worried about Latinos in Southeast Los Angeles County. Many of our families came from countries where leaders cut up districts to keep power and silence whole neighborhoods. Coming here as a refugee escaping communism made me appreciate the value of our voices. We know what it looks like when the government redraws the map to pick its voters. It starts with lines on a map. It ends with fewer seats at the table and fewer champions fighting for us.

Let me tell you how crazy these new maps are.

The maps have split 57 cities 141 times. They’ve split 28 counties 114 times. In one city in Orange County the district is literally spilt in the middle of the street.

The maps also split the AAPI community in Eastern Los Angeles County to diminish their influence in elections.

Here’s another crazy example..The proposed Congressional District 2 is bigger than some states. It stretches 430 miles from the Oregon and Nevada borders to the Golden Gate bridge.

Prop 50 threatens the Voting Rights Act by slicing through our shared neighborhoods and breaking apart our common culture. Voters in California are the biggest losers. Downey does not exist in a vacuum. We are tied to our neighbors in South Gate, Bell Gardens, Whittier, Huntington Park, Paramount, Pico Rivera, and beyond. We share parishes, businesses, and schools. When you split our communities, you weaken our voice. You make it easier to ignore us when decisions are made in Washington.

Some people want to make this about President Donald Trump. You can dislike him. You can vote against him. That is not an excuse to burn down fair maps in California. We do not save democracy by destroying it here at home. We protect democracy by insisting on transparent rules that outlast any one politician. We have that now, Prop 50 changes that.

President Trump will remain president until 2028, but these lines extend beyond his time in office. This isn’t about Trump; it’s about a group of politicians who fought us in 2010, opposed the independent redistricting commission then, and are fighting us now.

I was President of Independent Cities Association when we local elected officials (representing over 4 million residents in LA County) voted to support independent citizens drawing the boundaries even when Sacramento politicians opposed us. They are still opposing us and want to take us backwards.

Prop 50 also comes with a steep price. Not just dollars spent on a special election when the state is already cutting vital services. The real cost is our representation in Congress. Fewer competitive districts mean fewer leaders who must earn our votes. It means fewer voices fighting for federal resources that help California families and small businesses. That hits our roads, our schools, our hospitals, and our public safety.

The message of Prop 50 is ugly and simple. Politics matters more than people. That cannot stand.

In Downey, we teach our kids that rules matter. We teach them to win fair and to lose fair. That character counts. We do not move the goalposts after the game starts. Sacramento should live by the same standard.

We should not accept a future where our communities are divided so career politicians can lock in their power. Or a California where Latinos are told to stay silent while insiders redraw the maps to their benefit. Stand with the NO side. Stand with fairness. Stand with every Californian who wants real accountability.

Vote no on Prop 50. Keep the maps independent. Keep the power with the people.

Mario A. Guerra is the two-time former Mayor of Downey and Past President of Independent Cities Association. He is also the Host of Talking Downey podcast and can be reached at www.Marioaguerra.com or his cell at 562-706-4114.