Texas Democratic legislators have fled the state to dam the GOP’s efforts to gerrymander their technique to victory; Democratic teams are calling for mid-cycle redraws of congressional districts in blue states to cancel out ongoing Republican makes an attempt at an influence seize; and Democratic governors are exploring all of their authorized redistricting choices to be able to combat fireplace with fireplace.
In sum, Democrats have discovered the problem to deliver the combat to the anti-democratic GOP: stopping Republicans from drawing their method right into a loss-proof citizens.
“I’ve received information for Texas Republicans: That is now not the Wild West,” New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul stated on Monday. “New York is not going to let democracy get hijacked in a modern-day stagecoach heist.”
This type of resistance is strictly the form of motion Democratic voters have been craving for since Donald Trump reentered the White Home whereas swinging a corrupt wrecking ball.
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Certainly, polling reveals that Democrats’ picture has faltered—largely as a result of Democratic voters are pissed off with their very own get together. An AP/NORC ballot launched Sunday discovered that solely 2 in 10 Democratic voters view the get together favorably, with many describing the get together as “weak” and “ineffective.”
However on this challenge of Republicans rigging elections to get their most popular final result, Democratic lawmakers have discovered their backbone.
“I’ll put saving democracy as my high precedence at any value, as a result of it’s beneath siege, identical to those that placed on a uniform to combat in battles throughout the ages,” Hochul stated at a Monday information convention, including that redrawing the state’s congressional districts is on the desk. “For hundreds of years we have stood up and fought. Blood has been shed. That is our second in 2025 to face up for all that we maintain expensive and never let or not it’s destroyed by a bunch of renegades in a spot known as Texas.”
Hochul was joined at that information convention by among the greater than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to disclaim the Republican-controlled legislature a quorum. With out a quorum, Republicans can’t move the abhorrent gerrymander that may nix as many as 5 Democrats from the Home, which may assist Trump and the GOP maintain their Home majority in 2026.
GOP Gov. Greg Abbott threatened these lawmakers with expulsion and even bribery prices—an try to scare Democrats again to the Lone Star State to permit him to undemocratically steal energy for Expensive Chief Trump.
However what ought to give the Texas Democrats extra resolve is that Abbott’s menace to expel them from their seats and change them himself is not one thing he can unilaterally do—and particularly not earlier than the particular session he known as expires in two weeks. And even when he may oust the Democratic lawmakers, he couldn’t appoint their replacements himself. He’d need to name particular elections, which Democrats would nearly definitely win.
“I am a lawyer. There isn’t a felony within the Texas penal code for what he says,” Texas Democratic Rep. Jolanda Jones stated at a information convention with Hochul in New York. “Respectfully, he is making up some shit, okay? He has no authorized mechanism. He is placing up smoke and mirrors.”
It is one thing even corrupt Texas Legal professional Common Ken Paxton admitted.
“The problem is that [it] wouldn’t essentially be an instantaneous reply, proper?” Paxton advised right-wing podcaster and Russian asset Benny Johnson, in response to Politico. “We’d need to undergo the court docket course of, and we’d need to file … in districts that aren’t pleasant to Republicans. So it’s a problem as a result of each, each district could be totally different. We’d need to go sue in each legislator’s house district to attempt to execute on that concept.”
In the meantime, the Democratic Legislative Marketing campaign Committee known as on Democratic governors and Democratic-controlled state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts to be able to stop Republicans from stealing energy.
“The DLCC isn’t going to sit down again and permit Republicans to cheat the system to maintain themselves in energy,” committee President Heather Williams stated in an announcement on Monday. “All choices have to be on the desk—together with Democratic state legislatures utilizing their energy to combat again and pursue redistricting mid-cycle to be able to defend our democracy.”
And Democratic governors are heeding that decision.
Apart from Hochul, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is assessing his choices to redraw his state’s congressional traces, saying at a Monday information convention that “all the pieces needs to be on the desk.”
Pritzker additionally vowed to guard the Texas Democrats who’ve come to his state as they search to disclaim Abbott the quorum he must move the GOP’s egregious gerrymander.
In the meantime, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has additionally been working to discover a technique to redraw the Golden State’s congressional seats to fight Texas’ energy seize. The primary choice being tossed round is asking for a referendum to nix the state’s impartial redistricting fee, which might then permit Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional map.
“Republicans are rewriting the foundations to provide themselves a bonus,” Hochul stated Monday. “The gloves are off. Deliver it on.”
