‘Fire with fire': Politicians won’t take high ground on mid-decade redistricting

Nobody in politics wants to take the high ground right now on mid-decade redistricting

We've got to fight fire with fire. Texas Republicans released their newly drawn congressional map

that they hope will be in place for the 2026 midterm elections

Democrats say if Republicans are going to draw new congressional districts for themselves in Texas

they're going to do the same in blue states. And just about everyone in Washington admits

this is not the way redistricting is supposed to be done. Both sides are doing it, and it's not a good thing. It's not what our founders intended, but it is what it is

For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction in politics. This all started when Texas Governor Greg Abbott called a special legislative session to gerrymander the congressional map

after President Trump said he wants five new Republican seats in the Lone Star State

I hate what Texas is doing, but if they're going to do it, of course we have to fight back

It'll be harder for Democrats to draw more favorable maps for themselves in blue states because they're already gerrymandered extensively

For instance, in California, Trump received 38 percent of the vote in 2024, but Republicans hold only 17 percent of the state's 52 congressional seats

That's a 21-point discrepancy between the overall share of the vote Republicans received

and the number of seats they hold in the state's congressional delegation. There's also a 20-plus point gap in New Jersey and Illinois

In Texas, former Vice President Kamala Harris received 42 percent of the vote

while Democrats hold 34 percent of the state's 38 congressional seats. Is there going to be a race to the bottom of politicians picking their voters across the country before the 2026 midterms Politicians don pick their voters Voters pick their politicians

Isn't gerrymandering in this way, though, picking your voters to ensure that you can get

more Republicans in certain districts? That would have normally swung one way or the other

No, this is a way to make sure that the districts are representative of how the population votes

Hispanic voters in Texas have swung toward Republicans over the last decade

According to exit polls, Trump received 34 percent of the Latino vote in 2016 when he faced Hillary Clinton

That increased to 55 percent in 2024 against Kamala Harris. But while some Democrats say they should redraw blue state maps to offset Republican gains in Texas, others say it's not necessary

Look, I don't think we need to. Republicans in Texas are afraid of their own constituents

They are afraid that if the people of Texas have an opportunity to vote for whoever they want, that's going to put Democrats in charge in the state legislature and elect more Democrats to Congress from Texas

Democrats don't have that problem. Look, it's Republicans who can't show up at town halls

It's Republicans who need to go to their people and explain why 17 million people are going to lose their health care coverage

It's Republicans who need to explain that trillion dollars in tax cuts they've given to millionaires and billionaires and giant corporations, not Democrats

So far, no Democratic states have called a special session on redistricting

But Democrats do plan to file lawsuits and spend tens of millions of dollars to counter the new Texas map

I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Arrow News. For more reporting, download the SAN app