Newsom, Harris rally state voters for Prop. 50

National and state Democrats encourage Californians to cast a ballot for redistricting.

- SEEMA MEHTA AND ANDREA FLORES

ERIC THAYER Los Angeles Times CALIFORNIA GOV. Gavin Newsom attends a Yes on Proposition 50 rally at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and a slew of other national and California Democrats on Saturday rallied supporters to stay fired up in seeking passage of a ballot measure to redraw the state's congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections.

While polling suggests Proposition 50 is likely to pass Tuesday, volunteers must keep knocking on doors, phone-banking and motivating voters through election day, they said. Newsom told volunteers they ought to follow the model of sprinters, leaving it all on the field.

"We cannot afford to run the 90-yard dash. You Angelenos, you've got the Olympics coming in 2028.

They do not run the 90-yard dash. They run the 110-yard dash. We have got to be at peak on election day," Newsom told hundreds of supporters at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. "We cannot take anything for granted." Hours earlier, Republicans spoke against the ballot measure at John Wayne Park in Newport Beach, before sending teams into neighborhoods to drum up votes for their side.

"What Proposition 50 will do is disenfranchise, meaning, disregard all Republicans in the state of California," state Assembly member Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) said. "Ninety percent of 6 million [Californian Republicans] will be disenfranchised." Proposition 50 would redraw California's congressional districts in an attempt to boost the number of Democrats in Congress.

The effort was proposed by Newsom and other California Democrats in hope of blunting President Trump's push in Texas and other GOP-led states to increase the number of Republicans elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in next year's midterm elections.