Press Release California
ICYMI
ICYMI: Anti-Abortion Mega Donor Charles Munger Jr. Dumps Millions Into California Redistricting Opposition Efforts
ICYMI: Anti-Abortion Mega Donor Charles Munger Jr. Dumps Millions Into California Redistricting Opposition Efforts
Last week, the California legislature passed the Election Rigging Response Act (ERRA) to protect and preserve Californians’ votes. In November, there will be a new congressional map ballot measure as part of Gov. Newsom’s plan to offset Texas Republicans’ redistricting efforts to garner five Republican House seats.
The redistricting ballot measure is already facing severe opposition from Republicans in the state. Charles Munger Jr., an anti-abortion mega donor who previously bankrolled a slew of conservative candidates and ballot measures in California, donated $10M to the opposition campaign against redistricting efforts.
Munger’s hefty donation is likely to be one in a long line of many on both sides of a highly contested special election.
“Just a day after state lawmakers voted to place a gerrymandered map on the ballot Nov. 4, the nascent campaign has already drawn more than $20 million in contributions from both sides of the issue as powerful and wealthy players dig in for a bruising three-month sprint. Unlike candidate races, ballot initiatives do not have contribution limits, allowing supporters to instantly infuse millions of dollars.
[…]
Munger spent more than $10 million on a successful 2010 ballot initiative that stripped line-drawing power from state lawmakers and has vowed to spend what it takes to beat back Democrats’ initiative, which would until 2031 replace the independent commission’s lines with a map explicitly drawn to force out Republican incumbents.
[…]
Millions more are likely on their way. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson are spearheading a committee to defeat the measure, and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he will fight it.”
Munger has also used his wealth to back several anti-abortion organizations and fund fake health centers. In opposing this ballot measure, he is helping Trump and Republicans execute an overhaul of the federal government without any checks on their power.
According to Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju:
“It shouldn’t be a surprise that Charles Munger, who has a long history of supporting extremist anti-abortion organizations, just spent millions of dollars to continue to undermine what the majority of Americans and Californians want — a democracy that protects our fundamental freedoms. Republicans in Congress will stop at nothing to ban abortion and Munger is all too willing to help.”
###
For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.