Despite the massive efforts on the ground, Proposition 187 still passed with 59% of the total vote approving the ballot, but the story doesn’t end there. Learn more about the aftermath of Prop 187’s passage: the legal battle that ensued and the change in the electorate in the years after.  

Exit polls revealed that the white vote was propelled the proposition’s passage and the grassroots organizing successfully swung the vote of Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans against Prop 187. In the years after, California saw a rise in new Latino voters registering. This created a new Latino electorate that was able to influence California politics, helping turn the state blue decisively.  

Hear the firsthand accounts of Antonia Hernández and Thomas Saenz of Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund (MALDEF); Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State; Joel Ochoa of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and Cristina Vazquez of SEIU Workers United.