George Soros Fund Donates $10 Million To Gavin Newsom’s California Redistricting Fight

A George Soros-funded nonprofit gave $10 million to boost Governor Gavin Newsom’s bid to redraw California’s voting maps.

The Soros-linked Fund for Policy Reform donated $10 million to the ballot measure, according to a fundraising filing released Friday, making it the largest single backer of the Democratic governor’s effort to counter Texas’ redistricting moves. Californians will vote on the ballot initiative, Proposition 50, in November. 

The fight over California’s maps is quickly becoming a costly endeavor for both sides, with Newsom expecting to raise as much as $100 million for the ballot measure. He has recently tapped into many unions who backed him in his 2021 recall and are now supporting him in the redistricting fight. 

Newsom also is relying on his donor network of deep-pocketed billionaires. Gwendolyn Sontheim, a fifth-generation shareholder of the agricultural giant Cargill, is among the latest contributors, with a $2 million check, the campaign filings show. She is worth $8.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

She joins Netflix Inc. co-founder Reed Hastings, who also gave $2 million, and venture capitalist Michael Moritz, who donated $2.5 million, as some of the ballot measure’s biggest individual backers. 

With the most recent donations, Newsom’s side has raised more than $50 million in the redistricting battle, surpassing the roughly $36 million put up so far by opponents to the measure. The “No on 50” side is led by Charles Munger Jr., a physicist and Berkshire Hathaway heir who has plowed $30 million into the campaign.

A representative for Soros didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The billionaire philanthropist and longtime Democratic backer is a frequent target of President Donald Trump, who pushed for the Texas plan to redistrict state maps in favor of Republicans.

The president last week suggested his administration may pursue a racketeering investigation against Soros or his family, accusing them of funding protests, without providing any details on the grounds for a probe. A spokesman for the family’s Open Society Foundations called the allegations false and the threats “outrageous.” 

The New York Times earlier reported Soros’ expected donation.