GOP-run states taking 'explosive' steps to override Democratic-run city governments: analysis

According to a report from CNN, red states like Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Missouri, and others are launching a new front in their quest to seize authority over local prosecutors and policing policies.

“If left unchecked, local jurisdictions in states with conservative legislatures whose political majority does not match their own may find themselves subject to commandeering on an unprecedented scale,” the Legal Defense Fund's Janai Nelson tells CNN.

Red states want to override the decisions of blue cities on issues such as minimum wage, environmental regulations, mask mandates, and criminal justice reform. Marissa Roy of the Local Solutions Support Center says a lot of the criminal justice reform preemption "is in direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement."

"Many of the red state moves to preempt local district attorneys have targeted the so-called 'progressive prosecutors' elected in many large cities over recent years," writes CNN. "But there is also an unmistakable racial dimension to these confrontations: In many instances, state-level Republicans elected primarily with the support of White, non-urban voters are looking to seize power from, or remove from office, Black or Hispanic local officials elected by largely non-White urban and suburban voters."

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Republican governors and state legislators say the effort are necessary to combat high crime rates Democrat-run cities.

“Action must be taken to ensure that district attorneys are held accountable for their actions and carry out their duties by enforcing the laws we have on our books,” Texas GOP state Sen. Tan Parker said.

Thomas Hogan, a former federal prosecutor and elected Republican district attorney in Chester County outside Philadelphia, says progressive prosecutors only have themselves to blame.

“When you … stand up on the tallest building in your jurisdiction and holler at the legislature that you are not going to follow their law, somebody is going to pay attention," Hogan said. "When you do something like that you are basically waving a red cape in front of a bull.”

Read the full report over at CNN.