Bay Area partisans are fired up over California's Prop 50 contest. Others? Not so much

"Republican Max Hsia and about a dozen of his South Bay Patriots group gathered in the San Jose parking lot of Bass Pro Shops, donned their red MAGA hats, hung their "No on Prop 50" signs on a pop-up tent and tried to encourage a Charlie Kirk-style "Prove Me Wrong" debate with passers-by. That's not what they got with Evangelina Zavala. Instead, she pulled her Subaru SUV into a nearby parking slot, rolled down her windows and blasted the hip hop protest song, "(Expletive) Donald Trump." Hsia approached her. "We do have a microphone if you'd like to speak your piece and share your thoughts," he said. "You guys can share your thoughts," she said, "I share my music.""

"With only one statewide measure on the Nov. 4 special election ballot, partisans are squaring off across the Bay Area. Despite more than $100 million spent on the ballot fight so far, however, many are tuning out. Proposition 50 would temporarily redraw the boundaries of California's 52 congressional districts to help Democrats flip five of the nine seats now held by Republicans, a Democratic countermove to a Republican-led effort in Texas. But none of those five targeted districts are in the heavily Democratic Bay Area, where its impact is less personal."

"Partisans like Hsia and Zavala are fired up. So is Democratic volunteer Debbie Raucher of Oakland, who's been spending weekends knocking on doors to encourage Yes on 50 votes, and Republicans in San Jose like Carol Pefley who hang "No on 50" banners over freeway overpasses during rush hour. But across the Bay Area, others are barely tuning in. In a region where locals are most concerned about sky-high housing prices and budget-busting groceries, keeping up with an interstate political battle can seem irrelevant."

Proposition 50 would temporarily redraw the boundaries of California's 52 congressional districts to help Democrats flip five of the nine seats now held by Republicans as a countermove to a Republican effort in Texas. More than $100 million has been spent on the ballot fight so far. Activists on both sides are campaigning across the Bay Area with tents, signs, door-knocking and freeway banners. Many Bay Area residents are largely tuning out because the targeted districts are not local and daily concerns such as housing costs and groceries dominate attention.

Read at The Mercury News