Schwarzenegger Urges Voters to Reject California Redistricting Measure

Arnold Schwarzenegger told voters on Monday to reject Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ballot measure to temporarily gerrymander California’s congressional districts, his first public rebuke since the proposal was placed on the November ballot.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, the actor and former Republican governor of California, helped create the state’s independent redistricting system to prevent politicians from drawing district boundaries more than a decade ago, and he still considers the approach a key piece of his legacy.

Mr. Newsom’s ballot measure, if approved by voters, would toss the congressional maps drawn by a bipartisan commission and replace them with districts that Democratic lawmakers created this summer to help their party for the next three election cycles. California Democrats see their measure as a key bulwark against mid-decade gerrymandering that was initiated by President Trump and Texas Republicans.

Nearly 15 years since he left office, Mr. Schwarzenegger on Monday gave the vibe more of a reflective statesman from a bygone political era than the guns-blazing terminator character he once portrayed onscreen.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, 78 and a moderate Republican, spoke during a fireside chat inside a chandelier-lit ballroom at the University of Southern California, where he addressed Mr. Newsom’s measure during a broader discussion with the university president about his life and his centrist approach to politics.

“It is important for you to vote no on Proposition 50,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said to the room packed with hundreds of students holding their cellphones aloft to record his remarks. “I hate to get political here, but this is not political. This is more about democracy.”