Democrats might indeed pick up five California congressional seats in November thanks to Proposition 50 — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s slice and dice response to Trump’s playing Texas Hold ‘Em when it comes to redistricting for the 2026 midterms.

But it’ll be a fleeting victory.

The odds are now that California will loss four to five House seats when reapportionment takes place after the 2030 census.

That means if the eight current Republicans in the California delegation are whittled down to three by maps drawn at Newsom’s direction, the number of Democrats holding seats in the House of Representatives today — 44 — will be no different in 2032 after reapportionment.

That may a bit of a problem for “President Newsom”, assuming he gets elected in 2028 and running for a second term to remain at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2032.

And it could be the result of a parting gift from Donald Trump that keeps on giving.

Well, that’s not 100 percent correct. Newsom has a hand in what could be his future misfortune.

First things first.

California isn’t exactly in a downward spiral when it comes to population contrary to popular Internet opinion.

How can that be, you ask, given the babbling in the cesspool that the Internet has become?

Let’s use one source that arguably has the best hand on California’s population, the state Department of Finance.

The state in 2020 —based on the census and state stats — had 39,209,648 residents.

It dropped to 39,220,237 in 2021. Since then, the state population estimate by the Department of Finance has edged up slightly on an annual basis to 39,528,899 as of July 1, 2025.

Given how fast the state had been growing in its first 171 years since California obtained statehood in 1850, it clearly is in a stall, not a death spiral.

But that is about to change, thanks to Trump.

To explain, take a look at the bottom line of the last Department of Finance data.

There was a natural gain in population of 105,529 residents after deaths are subtracted from births.

Immigration from other countries into California added 133,360 residents.

Migration to California from other states was a minus 271,895.

That is how California grew by 19,242 residents between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025.

Trump’s deportation crackdown has severely reduced legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

The administration’s bid to add essentially “are you a legal citizen” question to the 2030 census questionnaire, is expected by critics of the move to substantially reduce the participation of illegals in terms of responding.

As a result, the shrinking of the California congressional delegation will indeed come in at four to five seats, if not more.

But before you start cursing Trump, Newsom has played a starring role in the future demise of the California delegation in Congress.

He’s been at the helm of the SS California for seven years.

Blame it on what you want: Wokeness — whatever that means to you, high taxes, regulations, you name it.

Of course, the popular narrative for the past 14 years with Democrats being in the governor’s office, is that it is all their fault.

Maybe, maybe not.

But it is clear which direction California is headed.

Up until 2020, California never lost a House seat in reapportionment every 10 years.

Newsom was governor in 2020 when California’s share of seats in the House of Representatives went from 53 seats to 52 seats.

You’ll never guess where most “migration” is taking place within the 50 states?

It’s going from blue states to red states.

Guess what states are for the most parts taking the biggest hits in the deportation drive?

They’re blue.

But California is not going to be coming less blue any time soon, especially after November’s election where the betting money is the Republicans will be taking a political bloodbath in Congressional races.

What would likely have happened if Proposition 50 had not passed?

The Republicans could have had a ninth congressional member.

And the best chance for that to happen was in the 13th District that includes Lathrop and points south of the southern San Joaquin County line.

It is where Adam Gray in 2024 beat Republican incumbent John Durate by 187 votes.

That was just two years after Durate defeated Gray by 564 votes in the 2022 election.

The seat was believed, by political strategists on both sides of the aisle, to have been a toss-up in November.

But then along came Trump’s ploy to hold onto Republican control of the House of Representatives by messing with Texas as he played a political take on Texas Hold ‘Em by re-carving the Lone Star State by squeezing out five more red seats.

You can’t criticize Newsom for playing political hardball especially given Trump threw the first bean ball.

And as wacko as it might sound, there is a good chance the moves will boomerang on both of them.

It could sink Trump’s hopes of Republican control of the House continuing after November.

And it could torpedo whatever Newsom’s long range vision might be.

Is it any stranger than two Republicans currently outpolling the nine Democrats running for governor?

Some pundits contend there is an outside chance two Republicans will advance to the general election in the runoff for governor.

That is wishful thinking, to be honest.

But that said, if you were a betting person, two years ago you’d bet the farm that two Democrats would have likely been on the November general election ballot for governor.

If you step back from whatever political bias you embrace and were honest with the state of politics in California, you probably would think it was highly likely Republicans would have been aced out of a spot in the general election for governor.

That is how wacko the political landscape has become in the past year.

That said — and politics aside — the fact California has reached kind of a plateau is perhaps a good thing.

Japan, that covers roughly the same land area as California, has 122.4 million residents.

No disrespect when it comes to Japan, but the bottom line of California not growing leaps and bounds like Texas, Utah, North Dakota, and Idaho is a good development for the quality of life in the Golden State.

Losing four of five seats in the House of Representatives is a small price to pay not to be the equivalent of a runaway train heading to 50 million people as opposed to lazily strolling to the 40 million mark

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com