Political Notebook: Gay House candidate Morrison evolves stance on CA redistricting measure

A gay congressional candidate in Southern California has evolved his stance on the redistricting measure voters will decide on in November. Immigration attorney Curtis Morrison initially planned to vote no on Proposition 50 but is now in support.

“It compromises democracy in a way we are not going to be able to undo,” Morrison had told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent phone interview.

Explaining he saw it as gerrymandering, which he opposes seeing a political party use to draw districts that favor its candidates, Morrison had said as of August 26 that he would not be supporting Prop 50. But he also said he didn’t plan to campaign against it.

“I am not personally sold on redistricting yet, but I am only one vote,” said Morrison.

Since then he has changed his thinking on the matter, saying he is “for it now.” As he explained this week in a post on X, “The hypocrisy of Trump-apologist Republicans feigning moral outrage changed my mind. Also, the new CA48 is more more of a hammerhead shark lego, which is cool.”

Pushed by Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom to respond to Texas Republican state leaders using a rare mid-decade redistricting effort to try to secure five more seats for GOP House candidates in the Lone Star State next year, the Democratic-controlled Legislature in Sacramento last month voted to put Prop 50 before Golden State voters this November 4. Their aim is to match Texas’ new map with one that creates five more California House seats favorable to Democratic candidates.

While Prop 50 would have little impact on the Bay Area’s congressional delegation, it could usher out of office a number of Republican House members from the Central Valley and Southern California. The ballot measure has been a topic du jour for weeks among residents of his San Diego County congressional district, said Morrison, and was a major focus of a recent candidate forum.

“It is the first question I am getting,” said Morrison about being asked where he stands on Prop 50.

The resident of Fallbrook, a rural unincorporated community in San Diego County, pulled papers earlier this year to run against Congressmember Darrell Issa (R-Vista) in the state’s 48th Congressional District. The House seat currently includes the eastern sections of San Diego County running from the Mexican border north to Temecula and Murrieta in Riverside County.

“I was feeling a lot more competent about my chances before all these uncertainties were introduced. I am not going to lie about that; that is true,” said Morrison.

Should Prop 50 be adopted by voters come November 4, then the House seat would be redrawn to include Palm Springs, making it an easier pickup for a Democratic candidate. The LGBTQ retirement and resort mecca is currently part of conservative Congressmember Ken Calvert’s (R-Corona) 41st Congressional District.

Earlier this year, gay entrepreneur and trained economist Brandon Riker announced he would run against Calvert in 2026. But should Prop 50 pass, Riker intends to run against Issa, as the Bay Area Reporter’s online Political Notes column reported last month.

Fellow Democrat, lawyer Anuj Dixit, also plans to run against Issa rather than Calvert, if the House maps change, while Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar is likely to run again against Issa after losing to him in 2020.

Brian Nash, a former Democratic candidate for a state Senate seat in 2022, has pulled papers to take on Issa. Also running is Fallbrook resident Whitney Shanahan, a mom and reproductive rights advocate who recently came out as lesbian having run against Issa as a bisexual candidate in the March 2024 primary, in which she placed third with 12%.

Bisexual San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert this week kicked off a run against Issa. Unopposed in her reelection race last year, the Democratic leader had officially launched in March a 2026 bid for the open state Senate District 40 seat. Meanwhile, Suzanne Till, a Democratic water district board member, announced she would end her bid for Issa’s seat and seek the 40th state Senate seat.

As for Morrison, he would end up living in a newly drawn 49th Congressional District under Prop 50. Should that be the case, he told the B.A.R. he would be voting to reelect Congressmember Mike Levin (D-Dana Point) to it and run against Issa, since congressional candidates are not required to live in the House district they aim to represent.

“I am in this race no matter what the maps are,” said Morrison.

With just nine weeks for Newsom and other Prop 50 backers to sell the ballot measure to voters, Morrison expressed doubt about its chances for passage.

“Nine weeks for the governor to sell it to the entire state and to the voters, it is going to be a tough sell,” he told the B.A.R. “A lot of people are not paying attention, so it could go either way.”

Other Democrats across the state are lining up in support of Prop 50. As the B.A.R. reported online September 2, a host of San Francisco leaders both LGBTQ and straight held a rally outside City Hall Tuesday morning to encourage a yes vote on the ballot measure.

“We did not seek this fight. This fight came for us. We’re going to come back at them. … We’re not going to back down,” declared gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).

Down in Los Angeles County Christopher Ahuja, whose gay brother-in-law grew up in San Francisco, is supporting Prop 50 even though it will alter the boundary of the state’s 32nd Congressional District that he is vying for next year. For the second election cycle in a row, the Tarzana-based actor and talent agent is running against Congressmember Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).

“It shouldn’t be done and we shouldn’t redistrict like this, but at the same time the MAGA administration, they don’t play by the rules. Everything they do is essentially illegal,” said Ahuja, adding that Newsom is approaching redistricting “the proper way” by allowing Californians to decide if the maps should be redrawn. “There is still a democratic process for it. I do support it.”

The district currently includes much of the San Fernando Valley and westside communities of Los Angeles. Also in the race is gay politico Jake Rakov of Studio City, who also backs Prop 50.

“Trump started this to try to rig the midterms for Republicans, and now Gov. Newsom and California Democrats are fighting fire with fire. This is exactly what we need to meet this moment,” he noted in an email fundraising off the issue. 

During a recent visit to the Bay Area, Ahuja met up with the B.A.R. and noted that under the proposed new map for the House seat, all of Simi Valley, Porter Ranch, and Grenada Hills would be added to it. Several hillside sections of Los Angeles County would be removed, including Bell Canyon and Hidden Hills, said Ahuja, whose home wouldn’t be affected.

“It adds more working-class neighborhoods to the district,” said Ahuja of Prop 50.

In the Central Valley, lesbian Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea told the B.A.R. she supports Prop 50 and will vote for it in the special statewide election on November 4. Like Ahuja, she appreciates that Californians will be able to voice their opinion on the matter via the ballot box.

“While no one was really anticipating this, it is up to California to step up and really neutralize what is happening in other parts of our nation,” said Perea, who is running for the open state Assembly District 31 seat next year. “So, it is going to be really interesting to see how this plays out in November and see sort of where other Democrats, up and down the state, how they are going to be able to support this or fight against it.”

A legal adversary to Trump
Morrison, 56, the founder of Red Eagle Law LC, and his husband, paralegal Rodolfo Green, have lived in Fallbrook since 2021, deciding to move out of Orange County in search of more space due to COVID. They were able to buy five acres, though they’ve had to contend with a series of wildfires they could see off in the distance and a resulting spike in their home insurance costs from $3,500 to $7,500 a year.

“Someone asked how we can afford that; we don’t know yet,” said Morrison. “This part of the country, you have some added challenges to deal with. I don’t think Darrell Issa pays much attention to this because his life is mostly in D.C.”

A legal adversary to President Donald Trump dating back to his first term, when Morrison filed a lawsuit against the travel ban Trump had imposed against a number of Muslim-majority nations that became moot after Joe Biden was elected president, Morrison this year filed a lawsuit against Trump’s new travel ban against 19 countries that went into effect in June. A judge last month ordered an injunction against it, though the Trump administration is expected to litigate the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Indiana native obtained his law degree from now-closed Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California. He had earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Louisville, and while in Kentucky had mounted an unsuccessful bid for a state Senate seat in 2012.

As he notes in his bio on his congressional campaign website, Morrison was revealed in 2014 to be the person who had surreptitiously recorded Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) talking about how his campaign would use actress Ashley Judd’s history of depression against her should she decide to run against him. Morrison had given the recording to a reporter at Mother Jones, and it prompted McConnell to call for the FBI to investigate Morrison, who lost his job, apartment, and friends over the matter.

It led him to law school in his 40s and a new life on the West Coast. He first met his now husband while studying abroad in Barcelona a decade ago.

A nonprofit public interest law firm in Oregon had hired him, but missing California, Morrison returned to the Golden State in 2018 and launched two law firms. The other also focuses on immigration law and is called Morrison Urena LC.

What role LGBTQ issues will play in his congressional race remains to be seen, as Morrison told the B.A.R. they haven’t come up much to date. He reiterated his pledge he lists under the “priorities” webpage of his campaign site that, “As a candidate, I am going to totally be an advocate for our trans brothers and sisters.”

He reported raising just $10,518 during the first half of 2025 and having $1,762.70 in his campaign account as of July 1. Asked about having the finances needed to mount a successful bid ahead of next year’s primary, where only the top two vote-getters will advance to the fall ballot, Morrison said he has been largely focused on his legal work this year and expressed confidence in being able to raise the money he needs for his campaign.

“I am an attorney; I can call other attorneys. Attorneys donate disproportionately to political campaigns,” said Morrison, pointing out that Issa is pushing to limit federal judges’ power to issue national injunctions against actions taken by the Trump administration. “Darrell Issa is not very popular with attorneys. I think I have a unique advantage to fundraise on that situation.”

Rather than focus on Prop 50 and what the House seat may look like come next summer, Morrison told the B.A.R. he plans to articulate to voters of the 48th District why he is the best candidate to represent them in Congress. Due to Issa’s support for Trump’s agenda, Morrison contends he will be vulnerable next year no matter the fate of Prop 50.

“I think I need to actively campaign on why I should be a member of Congress and Darrell Issa should not be,” he said. “I think I need to be focused for every moment from now to June on that.”

If another prominent Republican runs against Issa and it looks like the two GOPers could survive the primary, then Morrison told the B.A.R. the Democratic challengers will likely need to clear the field to ensure one of them is on the fall ballot.

“If another Republican gets into the race, then we will need a ‘Come to Jesus moment’ with the Democrats,” said Morrison. “We can’t have a Republican on Republican in this race.”

Updated 9/4/25 to reflect Morrison's change of position on Prop 50.

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