Yeah, Schwarzenegger tried that and failed because his 2005 ballot initiatives (including his non partisan redistricting) were in an unnecessary special election and attached with some hard right propositions. All 8 went down in flames.
He then fired his chief of staff and replaced her with a Democrat and governed from the center, even from the center left. I preferred him to Gray Davis since Davis was so in bed with the prison guards union that he never used his clemency powers for fear it would cost a prison guard job.
A few years later, in 2010 Schwarzenegger dusted off the redistricting initiative and it passed.
