Election expert Marc Elias is telling Republicans to think again if they believe they'll win lawsuits to stop California redistricting.
After demanding redistricting of congressional maps and moving forward with new lines in Texas, Republicans now want to stop the same thing from happening in California.
The state overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure Tuesday to specifically gerrymander congressional lines in California to counter Texas' move. The GOP launched a lawsuit, but so has one Republican lawmaker likely to lose his seat in the 2026 midterm elections.
MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Elias whether the effort would be successful.
"They're gonna lose," Elias said frankly.
"So, just to be clear, California Republicans filed two cases already in the state Supreme Court, and the state Supreme Court didn't even wait for the state of California to answer before dismissing them," he said. "Then [Rep.] Ronny Jackson (R-TX) filed a lawsuit in [Judge] Matthew Kaczmarek's courthouse. As you know, Judge Kaczmarek is very conservative. He's oftentimes a place where if you're very conservative, you go to his courtroom and hope to get a hearing."
Jackson did exactly that, but even there, the case was thrown out.
"Then [Rep.] Darrell Issa (R-CA) filed a lawsuit in the same courtroom in Texas in Judge Kaczmarek's courtroom. And that was dismissed," Elias charted. So, this is actually now the sixth case that they have filed challenging the California map, and it will be the sixth defeat that Republicans will suffer."