LACDP Chair Mark Ramos' statement following the passage of Prop 50

November 5, 2025

      

Contact: Andres Molina

Email: [email protected]

 

LACDP Chair Mark Ramos' statement following the passage of Prop 50

LOS ANGELES COUNTY --

Los Angeles County Democratic Party (LACDP) Chair Mark Ramos has released the following statement following the passage of Prop 50.

“Yesterday, Californians lit a fire for democracy. Voters stood up and said enough to rigged maps and broken promises. The Los Angeles County Democratic Party is proud to have contributed to this historic victory, proof of what we can accomplish when we organize, mobilize, and refuse to back down. Prop 50 is more than a win; it’s a vow to defend our democracy with everything we’ve got. This victory belongs to every organizer, volunteer, and voter who refused to give up on a fairer future. We did this and we’re just getting started!”

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#TrumpCheck - The Lies About 'No Kings'

Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions. 

We took a little end-of-summer break to focus on our Prop. 50 outreach efforts and to gear up for Election Day... and now we are back and better than ever! 

Fall is in full swing, with the days getting shorter and the leaves starting to change color. Another feature of the season... threats of a government shutdown. 

The modern budget process of Congress was established in 1976, creating a fiscal year for the federal government that begins on October 1st and runs through September 30th of the next year. 

In the 49 years since that system was designed, the government has shut down, for more than one business day, four times. However, budget debates and threats of a shutdown are nearly as ubiquitous with autumn as pumpkin spice, especially since the dawn of the Trump years almost 10 years ago. 

Today, we are here to debunk some of the facts versus fiction about government shutdowns in the United States. 

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• A White House statement issued today exclaims that "Democrats are threatening to hold government funding hostage to score political points, ignoring the real-world consequences — barreling our country towards a government shutdown if Republicans don’t adhere to their roughly $1.5 trillion wish list."

FACT: The '$1.5 trillion wish list' that Trump is referring to is the Democrats' demand for protections to healthcare, including tax credits that lower the cost of healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. 

There is no research to indicate that this would cost $1.5 trillion. 

As for the Democrats "ignoring the real-world consequences"... The Republicans are the ones threatening jobs. The threat of permanent job losses for federal workers impacted by a shutdown "marks a significant break from how shutdowns have been handled in recent decades, when most furloughs were temporary and employees were brought back once Congress voted to reopen government and funding was restored," as reported by Politico. 

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• Republicans have threatened to eliminate entire sectors of the federal staff if a shutdown does occur. Politico released a memo from The Office of Management and Budget, in which they state their plan to "move to permanently reduce the government workforce if there is a shutdown."

FACT: According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy organization, "a government shutdown does not provide the Administration any additional legal authority to fire federal employees."

The stated plans to eliminate government staff in the event of a shutdown are illegal. 

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• This morning, Trump blamed the potential for a government shutdown on the 'unreasonable demands' of Democrats: “This is all caused by the Democrats, they asked us to do something unreasonable,” adding that “this is what [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer wants, this is what the Democrats want.”

FACT: On Tuesday, Trump canceled a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 

In a Truth Social post, the President announced that "I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive." 

“By refusing to even sit down with Democrats, Donald Trump is causing the shutdown. This is a Trump shutdown," Schumer said, as reported by Politico. 

“Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency — it’s clear they have decided to shut the government down, which is why they’ve entered into no good faith conversations with Democrats to try to reach a resolution,” said Jeffries separately on Tuesday.

How can Trump form his opinions on the Democrats' demands when he won't even speak with them about it?

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Whether the government gets shut down or not, we still have power, and we need to use it. Help us fight back, Democrats. You can check your voter registration status here. Voting is the #1 tool that Americans have against MAGA. The next step in standing up to the Trump administration is setting the record straight; correcting misinformation is a job for us all. If you had this email forwarded, you can sign up for the #TrumpCheck newsletter here. 

Stay safe, stay strong, and keep up the good fight, Democrats. 

We'll be back at defending the truth next week. Until then, stay tuned to our social media channels, linked below, for updates on the LACDP's fight against Trump.

In Solidarity,  

Team LACDP   

#TrumpCheck - The Lies About Voting

Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions. 

Ballots have officially dropped for the November 4th special election in California! Voters will have the chance to vote 'yes' on Proposition 50, an anti-Trump proposition that allows California to combat Trump's takeover of Congress. Prop 50 evens the playing field and keeps power with the voters to decide what happens in the midterm elections. 

California is one of just a handful of states in which every registered voter receives a mail-in ballot. Whether they choose to use it or not is up to voters, but by default, everyone receives a ballot in the mail that they can drop off at their nearest ballot collection box until Election Day. 

Trump has long decried mail-in voting and has made threats to abolish it. Voting, whether at a polling place or by mail-in ballot, is crucial to make our voices heard in a democracy. So while we get ready to vote 'yes' on Prop 50, let's debunk some of the lies that Trump has spread about voting and ballots. 

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• In an August Truth Social post, "We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED."

FACT: This is entirely untrue. Dozens of other countries use mail-in voting systems, including Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia. 

The International Institute for Democracy & Electoral Assistance reports that 34 countries allow some form of mail-in voting, including 12 countries that use it as their only voting process. 

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• In the same Truth Social post, Trump exclaims that “…Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM. ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL-IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS.”

FACT: Mail-in ballots are not a scam, and are not rife with voter fraud. As CNN puts it, "While rare instances of voter fraud from mail-in ballots do occur, it is nowhere near a widespread problem in the US election system."

Research conducted at Loyola Law School identified 31 total incidents of voter fraud from 2000 to 2014, a period encompassing over a billion votes to count. 

Even Former President Jimmy Carter, who oversaw a committee on mail-in ballot security in 2005, stated in 2020, “I approve the use of absentee ballots and have been using them for more than five years.”

Mail-in ballots are a secure and convenient tool for voting in a democratic society. There is no evidence to the contrary. 

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• In a September 12th interview with Fox & Friends, Trump described what he sees as the issues with mail-in ballots in California. "California doesn't have ballot boxes; they send out 38 million ballots, and who knows where the hell they're going."

FACT: California has ballot boxes; early voting centers open in every county 10 days before Election Day, and stay open until November 4th. 

As of September 5, 2025, there are 23 million registered voters in California, and each voter receives a mail-in ballot prior to the election. The "38 million" number that Trump cites is closer to the population of California, which is around 39 million people, but that number includes children, non-citizens, and incarcerated individuals. Only the 23 million registered voters in the state get ballots at election time.

As for keeping track of them, we DO know where the hell they're going! California tracks every ballot so voters can know where their ballots are every step of the way. From being mailed, received, and counted, the Where's My Ballot? tool ensures that everyone knows how much their vote counts.

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We need your help, Democrats. You can check your voter registration status here. Voting is the #1 tool that Americans have against MAGA.

We all need to vote YES ON 50!

So make your voting plan, or fill out your mail-in ballots today!

The next step in standing up to the Trump administration is setting the record straight; correcting misinformation is a job for us all. If you had this email forwarded, you can sign up for the #TrumpCheck newsletter here. 

Stay safe, stay strong, and keep up the good fight, Democrats. 

We'll be back at defending the truth next week. Until then, stay tuned to our social media channels, linked below, for updates on the LACDP's fight against Trump.

In Solidarity,  

Team LACDP