Co-stars and longtime friends Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger have found themselves on opposing sides of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to fight Republican gerrymandering.
President Donald Trump sparked a redistricting arms race this summer by asking Texas and other red states to redraw their political maps to help Republicans pick up congressional seats in next year’s midterm elections.
Democratic governors have vowed to fight back with their own partisan redistricting, and last week, the California legislature greenlit a November special election for voters to decide whether to adopt new political maps for the next three House races.
Afterward, the authority to draw political maps would revert to California’s non-partisan redistricting commission, which was one of Schwarzenegger’s signature policy achievements from his time as the state’s governor.
The Terminator star, a Republican, was in office from 2003 and 2011 and has vowed to take on Newsom to protect his redistricting legacy. Meanwhile, DeVito, his good friend and Twins co-star, has thrown his support behind the governor’s plan.
The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Star donated $1,000 to Newsom’s ballot measure committee, according to a new campaign contribution filing.
DeVito, 80, has long been an outspoken liberal. He campaigned against Trump in 2016 and 2020, endorsing progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in both races.
Schwarzenegger, 78, has long described himself as a “proud” Republican, but last year he wrote in a social media post that his party had “forgotten” its core principles—including free markets, fiscal responsibility, and election integrity—and endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives of Schwarzenegger and DeVito for comment.
Despite their political differences, DeVito told People magazine last year that he and the bodybuilder-actor-politician are “good buddies” who have been friends for years, since even before their iconic roles as fraternal twins separated at birth in the 1988 hit Twins.
“We get along really well,” said DeVito, who also appeared in the 1994 comedy Junior with Schwarzenegger. “We complement each other in a lot of ways.”
During the interview, DeVito said he and Schwarzenegger were working on a new project together, though he said it wouldn’t be a sequel to their earlier film.
“We missed Twins 2, because he became governor—which, he should have done Twins 2 instead of becoming governor," DeVito joked.
Both actors received a massive payday from the original Twins after they and one of the film’s producers cut a deal with the studio to accept less money up front and collectively take home 40 percent of the film’s profits.
The movie grossed $216 million at the box office, making it the most lucrative film of Schwarzenegger’s career, he revealed in June.
He and DeVito appeared on stage together to present the award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards, where they received a standing ovation, and reunited that year for a Super Bowl commercial for State Farm.
