California Is Slipping Away: The Cost of One-Party Rule

California is collapsing.

Our schools are failing. Streets are unsafe. Homelessness is skyrocketing. Housing is unaffordable. Taxes are crushing families. Small businesses are fleeing. And those in power—the Democrats who run nearly every major city, the Legislature, and now even our counties—are tightening their grip while pretending everything is fine.

Gavin Newsom isn’t fixing the problem. He’s accelerating it. Through measures like Prop 50 and sweeping gun control, he’s pushing for more chaos, more division, and more centralized power—all while eyeing the presidency.

It isn’t fine. It’s unraveling before our eyes.

Now, Proposition 50 threatens to make this dominance permanent. If it passes, the Legislature—already controlled by Democrats—will draw congressional districts themselves. No independent redistricting. No fairness. Just maps designed to guarantee Democrats stay in power. For the roughly 20% of Californians who are Republicans, that means virtually no voice.

Here in Merced County, AB 1441 is doing the same thing locally. It strips redistricting authority from our elected Board of Supervisors and hands it to a politically appointed “citizens commission.” When that commission answers to Sacramento insiders, the outcome is predetermined: Republican voices silenced, conservative communities marginalized, local control erased.

​By Gene D. Johnson Jr., Chair, Republican Party of Merced County