CNN’s Jake Tapper had on the seven-time Mr.Olympia and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss partisan gerrymandering, among other topics, and got an earful when he tried to justify California’s gerrymandering referendum known as Prop 50. Tapper got a near-total recitation of Democrat partisan gerrymandering efforts in a way not normally seen on cable TV.
Watch as Schwarzenegger cites several states where the GOP is shut out of the congressional delegation despite garnering at least 40% of the vote:
Those Republican shutdowns are not usually cited in the legacy media when covering redistricting. Usually, the frame on redistricting begins from the recent Texas legislation which, to be clear, Schwarzenegger also denounces here. There is almost never any mention of the states cited above, or some of the other more egregious instances such as Illinois, and New York.
Of course, Schwarzenegger is the independent redistricting commission that he enacted as governor, and which has led to the highly partisan redistricting seen in California. But such nuance didn’t make into Tapper’s frame, which sought to lend credibility to the idea that California’s proposal is serious and somehow a solution to the problem of partisan gerrymandering.
When it comes to the coverage of partisan redistricting we are reminded yet again that if it weren’t for double standards, there would be none at all.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on CNN State of the Union on Sunday, October 26th, 2025:
JAKE TAPPER: And joining me now, someone who wants to terminate the redistricting effort in California, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who we’re catching up with at Gold’s Gym in Venice, of course. Good to see you, sir. Thank you for working us into your — your busy fitness schedule. A CBS poll this week found that 62 percent of likely California voters support this ballot measure that you oppose. Why do you think you’re right and they’re wrong? And what more are you going to do between now and Election Day to try to stop this from passing?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I’m not really the spokesperson for the anti- Proposition 50. I just want to defend the kind of work that I have done, because we worked so hard to get the independent redistricting commission in California. It was — California was in the leadership on that issue. Then we went around the country, promoted it around the country and actually convinced 30-some percent of districts to go and have an independent commission. And now all of a sudden they’re undoing all of that. There’s this war going on all over the United States, who can outcheat the other one? Texas started it. They did something terribly wrong. And then, all of a sudden, California says, well, then we have to do something terribly wrong. And then now other states are jumping in. And now this is spreading like wildfire all over the country. And it saddens me to see it be going in the opposite direction, rather than having an independent commission draw the district lines. And so, Jake, I have to tell you that, when you think about this trying to outcheat each other, rather than outperform each other, it’s all between Democrats and Republicans. And the ones that are getting left behind are the people. And when I think about this cheating that’s going on, I said, wait a minute, yesterday, I saw on television basketball players getting arrested. coaches, famous coaches getting arrested, mafia getting arrested because they’re cheating with the card games and with gambling and with all of those kind of things. So they’re getting arrested, and, here, they’re cheating and they’re having a war on cheating here in America with this gerrymandering. So it’s really sad.
TAPPER: Democratic Governor Newsom was asked this week about your efforts to lobby against the measure. I want you to take a listen to what he said and then respond on the other side.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): He’s wrong. What we’re doing is temporary. It’s completely transparent and it’s democratic. This is a revolution that’s going on in real time in our country. We need to wake up. Prop 50 is foundational if we’re going to save this republic. So I would say to those that are opposed to it, wake up to these new realities. Spare me the moral high ground.
TAPPER: So, I know this, sir, but this is a prevalent view among Democratic voters and Democratic officials. They think Republicans are blowing up all norms and standards for behavior, and they feel, therefore, they have to take extraordinary action in response. Are their concerns invalid, do you think?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, first of all, let me just say that it’s important. This is not Governor Newsom against me or me against Governor Newsom. We are friends and we get along. And he came to me and told me about this situation. And we have been working on this without attacking each other and all of that. So, that’s number one. Number two, I think, when he — when they say this is temporary, there is no such thing. I mean, the longest programs are government programs that are temporary, OK?Just remember that, if it is a tax program or if it is a redistricting program, anything that is temporary with government is permanent. So, in the year 2032, when the independent redistricting commission is supposed to come back, they’re going to say, wait a minute, there’s still gerrymandering going on in Texas. There’s still gerrymandering going on in Ohio. There’s still gerrymandering going on in Florida. We have to continue the gerrymandering. This is what’s going to happen. They will find an excuse. So, therefore, I don’t think it is temporary. So that’s total fantasy. So, the second thing is that you cannot cheat your way out of it. What they should do is, what the Democrats should do is, they should outperform Trump. To me, it’s all about competition creates performance. And so what they do is, with the redistricting commission, is that they’re going to go and try to draw the district lines in such a way that they get voted in no matter if they work well or not for the American people. So the American people get cheated on this whole thing. That is really the problem here. To me, I understand that the Democrats and Republicans have to fight about this. But the ones that are not really getting anything out of this is the people of America. I think that, if you want to really fight for democracy, why would you go and destroy the Constitution in California, tear it up, and go and redo it, do the whole thing? So, to me, it just doesn’t make any sense at all, the whole thing.
TAPPER: As you- as acknowledged, this all started because of redistricting in Texas. And this was Trump pushing Republican- controlled states to throw out their current congressional maps, so as to cook the books so that there is less — it is less likely for Democrats to retake control of the House during the next-year midterms.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, no, Jake.
TAPPER: I mean, is it fair to argue that — do you believe that the Republican Party is starting this?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes. No, Jake, there has been gerrymandering going on for 200 years. There is such extreme gerrymandering going on that, in a state like Massachusetts, that has like 40 percent of the people voting for Trump, they only had -they had have zero representatives. The Republican Party has zero representatives sent to the House. Think about that. In New Mexico, 45 percent of the people voted for Trump and vote Republican, and zero is sent to the House, zero representative from the Republican Party. So there’s gerrymandering, crazy gerrymandering going on all over the country. And we wanted to try to stop it in California, and we did stop it in California and we went around the country. So I think this whole thing about finger-pointing and say they did it, so therefore we should — doing it, that’s not really the way to go, that one party should outperform the other party. It should be performance.
And when it comes to midterm elections, as you know, always the party that is not in the White House usually wins by 20, 25, 30 seats. So what does five seats matter in the first place in Texas? It is crazy. We should outperform them. That is where the action is.
TAPPER: Let’s talk about another issue you care passionately about. You met with Pope Leo earlier this month to discuss your efforts to combat the climate crisis. It’s a top priority. But, realistically, I wonder, what do you tell people who believe that climate change is an existential threat? What should they do when the president of the United States falsely claims it’s a hoax, actively works to undermine climate initiatives, not just by the Biden administration, but climate initiatives by your beloved state of California? What do you tell activists to do?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, first of all, I was very excited that the Catholic Church is really that enthusiastic about becoming involved in a fight against pollution, terminating pollution. So this was number one. I was very excited to be there at the Vatican, to give the speech there, to work with the pope together, and to work with the Vatican together on this issue. Number two, my message has always been, don’t go and focus on what the federal government is doing or what the president is doing or what the prime minister is doing. I said each community and each state has its own powers. When I was governor, we did the most extraordinary work here in California. Democrats and Republicans alike worked together. We passed the most tough environmental laws in the country. And we proved that you can have tough environmental laws, but, at the same time, have also the economy grow. Look at California now. It’s the number one economy in the country, and we have the toughest environmental laws. So, you can do that. It was done on a local and on a statewide level, not on the federal level. As a matter of fact, the Bush administration hated all of our ideas that we did here. And we even fought in court and went all the way to the Supreme Court. And we won against the federal government, because they wanted to stop us from regulating our own air. So what my message is, is, let’s not focus on what Trump says. Let’s not focus on what the federal government says. Let’s focus on, what can we do, what can each individual do? I mean, this is where the action is, people power, not government power, people power. The greatest things in the world were accomplished with people power, if it’s the civil rights movement, if it is the anti-apartheid movement, if it is the suffrage movement, the independence movement in India. You go — the list goes on and on and on. It’s people power. And I want to encourage people and I want to pump them up. And I want to say, you do the work, rather than waiting for, what does Trump say today? Oh, my God, Trump is saying this and he thinks it’s a hoax. No, no, no, that’s not where the action is. The action is, what do you do?
TAPPER: One last question for you, sir. In just the last few weeks, we have seen a Democratic Senate candidate apologize for having a tattoo that he claims he wasn’t aware had Nazi ties, but it’s the Totenkopf from the S.S., the skull and crossbones. And then there’s — that’s on the left. And then, on the right, a top White House aide still working for the administration had his nomination withdrawn after he wrote in a text chain that he had a Nazi streak. Politico reported on messages from Young Republicans joking about sending people to gas chambers, praising Hitler.The reason I bring this up is because you have spoken so movingly in the past about your father’s membership in the Nazi Party, denouncing it. What is your message to anybody in politics today embracing or praising Nazis or Hitler in any way?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I don’t know anything. I don’t know the details about this one individual that says that he had this tattoo put on by mistake or he was drunk or something like that, and now he wants to erase it and he wants to cover it. I don’t know enough about this case that — to really comment on it. But I can just tell you one thing. Anyone that idolizes Nazis, it’s bad news, because we have been there before and we have seen the outcome. There are no winners, OK? It’s that simple. And I think that’s not the direction we want to go. What we want to do is, we want to make sure that both of the parties, doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat or Republican, get together and start figuring out what is best for the people of America, because, while they are fighting over here about anti-Prop 50 and for Prop 50 and gerrymandering and not gerrymandering and all this stuff, they’re trying to put the spotlight away from the actual issues. Because the actual issues is the debt problem. We have a $37 trillion debt, and no one is addressing it. We have a health care crisis in America. We have an immigration reform that we need in America. I mean, this is the kind of issues. You have to make it more affordable. And all of those kind of issues, they’re avoiding it. In California, it’s the same thing. The more they talk about Prop 50, the more they take the spotlight away that we have more homeless in California than any other state. As a matter of fact, we have one-quarter of all the homeless in America right here with 178,000 homeless. And the number goes up and up and up. They don’t want to focus on that. You see what I’m saying? They don’t want to focus there about affordability, that the affordability is so bad here that people have to move out of Los Angeles. They can’t afford living here anymore because it takes $3,500 to rent an apartment here. And you cannot even afford a house or anything like this. That’s why we have so many homeless, because, in the homes, they don’t have the permitting process in place. So those are the kind of issues they should address, or that we have the highest energy prices in California, the highest gasoline prices in California. All of those kind of things need to be addressed. They don’t want to talk about that. They want to go and focus on Prop 50. And it may win, Prop 50. I think the people that are falling short are the people themselves, and not the politicians. The politicians are going to celebrate because they finally won something, and then they’re going to go and do it in another state, in another state, in another state. And it hurts the people. I am a guy that is not on the right and not on the left when it comes to that. I’m not a political hack. I’m a person that looks at, what is reality here and how do we make this country better? And this is not — through gerrymandering is not the way we make this country better. We make it better by the parties outperforming each other. That’s how we make them better.
TAPPER: Former California Governor, actor, entrepreneur Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s been an honor, sir. Thank you so much.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good day.
