WASHINGTON — How did Proposition 50, the California redistricting ballot measure, pass handily this week when Golden State voters initially disapproved of the measure?

“There were any number of people who were not paying any damned attention,” former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson told me over the phone Wednesday.

Money-wise, the campaign to fight Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pet measure was running on empty, Wilson explained, while the “yes” campaign was rolling in other people’s money. “The Democrats did not only have the money, but they spent it,” Wilson offered, as he touched upon conservative discontent about the weak “No on 50“ campaign.

Like everything in American politics today, this episode starts with President Donald Trump, who pushed Texas and other red states to adopt new district maps

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