FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 4, 2025

CONTACT

Hector Barajas
[email protected]

“After Gavin Newsom’s Partisan Power Grab, a Democrat Vote in California Will be Worth Eight Times What a Republican Vote is Worth, a Grotesque Assault on our Democracy”

Hilton’s challenge stresses both constitutional violations and the stark imbalance revealed by basic math:

Calculation based on 2024 presidential vote totals in California:

• In the 2024 presidential election, California voters cast 9.27 million votes for Democrats and 6.08 million votes for Republicans.
• Under the Democrats’ proposed map, that translates into 48 House seats for Democrats (about 193,000 votes per seat) and just 4 for Republicans (about 1.52 million votes per seat).
• In effect, each Democrat vote would be worth eight times more than a Republican vote.

Steve Hilton submitted legal action to stop California’s unconstitutional redistricting plan, which violates the principle of one person, one vote and shreds the guarantee of equal protection under the law.

“Equal protection means fair value for every vote,” Hilton said. “Under this new scheme, a Democrat vote is worth eight times a Republican vote. That is not democracy, it is voter suppression.”

Even the current congressional breakdown of 43 Democrats and 9 Republicans, while still skewed, yields a smaller ratio of about 3 to 1.

“The Constitution does not say one person, one vote sometimes. It does not say one person, one vote, only for the majority party. It says one person, one vote for everyone,” Hilton said. “If this map is allowed to stand, millions of Californians will have their voices silenced and their votes devalued.”

Hilton noted that beyond the math, the scheme also ignores California’s constitutional requirement that redistricting happen once per decade in the year after the census. The census is the only accurate, comprehensive population count to ensure districts are roughly equal in size. “Five years after the last census, with hundreds of thousands leaving the state and entire communities displaced by wildfires, it is impossible to guarantee equal representation,” Hilton said.

Hilton emphasized that this lawsuit is about fairness, not partisanship. “This is not about whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. It is about whether your vote counts the same as your neighbor’s. No Californian should accept a system that tells them their voice is worth less.”

The lawsuit was filed in federal court by John Howard of JW Howard Attorneys. A link to the filing is available HERE.

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For more information about Steve Hilton’s campaign and vision for California, visit www.stevehiltonforgovernor.com.