WASHINGTON — Texas Republicans are “clearly afraid” of their own voters, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told Raw Story after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) compared the Lone Star State’s mid-decade redistricting effort to “gerrymandering” in Democratic strongholds like Massachusetts.
Under pressure from President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott called the Texas legislature into a special session in an effort to ram through a controversial redistricting plan designed to net as many as five extra GOP seats in next year’s midterm elections.
That’s had Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members calling foul, but Cruz told Raw Story blue state progressives are being hypocrites.
“The Democrats have long used gerrymandering to subvert democracy and expand their congressional delegation,” Texas’s junior senator said.
“For example, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a liberal state. There are Republicans in Massachusetts. Indeed, they've elected multiple Republican governors, and yet, of the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation, there are zero Republicans.
“They have drawn the lines in Massachusetts so that only Democrats need apply. [It’s] not surprising that the state of Texas is deciding to redraw the lines to elect more Republicans who reflect views of the vast majority of the state.”
When Raw Story presented Cruz’s argument to Sen. Warren, she laughed.
“Massachusetts is not afraid of our voters, and we don't need to engage in gerrymandering in order to elect our representatives in the state house or in Congress,” Warren said.
“Texas Republicans are clearly afraid that if the good people in Texas are given a chance to vote for who they want, that those Republicans are going to lose power.”
Polling gives President Trump and congressional Republicans reason to believe their unpopular “Big Beautiful Bill” tax cut and spending cut package and the deepening Jeffrey Epstein scandal will severely damage their electoral prospects.
The proposed Texas redistricting is a break with the customary 10-year cycle that lines up with the nation’s census, in an attempt to give the GOP an edge before any votes are cast.
“What do you think about [the Texas redistricting effort] being directed from the White House?” Raw Story asked Warren.
“It’s one more indication that Donald Trump leads the charge when it comes to undercutting democracy, for the Republicans,” the senator said.
‘Everybody's happy at the White House’
Texas Republicans are facing constant questions about the redistricting plan, leading to many representatives running from reporters or offering a dismissive “no comment.”
“I know from a bunch of you Texas members, y'all don't want this,” Raw Story pressed veteran Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).
McCaul smiled broadly.
“A lot of y'all are freaked out by it,” Raw Story added.
“Everybody's happy at the White House, now they're looking at an opportunity to get some seats and they talked to the state legislature, and it's their prerogative,” McCaul said.
“So that's kind of where it stands.”
“Maybe put forward policies people like and you can combat that midterm boom the other party always gets?” Raw Story suggested.
“A lot of times it's a game of numbers too. But anyway, this is actually sort of like the White House,” McCaul said. “So, that's about all I can say.”
Gerrymandering — the practice of drawing district lines to favor your own electoral prospects — is named after Elbridge Gerry, a founder, Massachusetts congressman, and U.S. vice president in 1813-14. The practice has always been part of U.S. politics, openly discussed by politicians and advisers.
“The objective is to get Republican seats,” House Budget Committee Chair Jody Arrington, another powerful Texas Republican, told Raw Story.
“But we don't get to draw the maps.”
That was a reference to state authorities set to carry out redistricting. Arrington dismissed suggestions his own seat could disappear, adding: “I think every Republican member from Texas wants to expand our number of seats if we can. I think there's a way to do it.”
Prominent Democrats are urging California governor Gavin Newsom to initiate aggressive redistricting in response to Texas, to reduce the number of Republicans from his overwhelmingly blue state.
Republicans like Arrington dismiss that as dirty politics.
“I think it would be problematic,” Arrington said, adding: “I don't think they can do what we can do because of the system for redistricting … there's not as much behind that threat than there is a realistic opportunity to have more seats in Texas.
“How many, I don't know, but there's definitely more there.”
‘How ugly’
Redistricting is easier in Texas than in California.
“Well, Texas can do what it wants but Newsom doing so would be in direct face of the voter initiative that puts [redistricting] in the hands of an independent commission which I supported as a legislator and as a private citizen back in the day,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) told Raw Story.
“That would have a really very bad look. And the way Newsom is bragging about how, ‘Well we got a three-to-one majority, we could just force this thing through’ … that's a bad look. The people directly said they wanted [redistricting] to be independent of politics and politicians.”
California “voters wanted [redistricting] in the hands of an independent commission,” LaMalfa added.
“I've watched personally, before I was in office, how ugly the process turned when politicians on both sides were drawing the lines in order to benefit their political vendettas and things like that.”
Asked about Texas, LaMalfa repeated that it could do what it wanted.
Another California Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa, was more cynical about the independent commission.
“They already gerrymandered my state,” Issa told Raw Story. “[Democrats] just think they can do a little better. California is already highly gerrymandered. You look at it, we [Republicans] have eight seats. And you look at the [last] election … we should have more than double that.”
“The independent commission is a farce,” Issa added, alleging “gerrymandering, clearly by a commission to create safe seats for Democrats.”
‘It’s racial’
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) is a Capitol Hill institution in himself, a fiery orator and leading figure in the Congressional Black Caucus.
He told Raw Story the Texas redistricting plan was “targeted for minority districts.”
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) is a fiery presence on Capitol Hill. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
“When you target people like that, you have to say what it is. This is racial gerrymandering … to eliminate minority voices in the process,” Green said.
“And there is a fear in this country of using the word ‘racial’ or ‘racism.’ There's a fear.
“We hear ‘antisemitism’ on a daily basis, and we should … but when there is this racial thing occurring, and that's what's happening in Texas, we're not hearing the voices, and that's what it is.”
Green also accused Republicans of “changing the rules in the middle of the game,” with a “mid-decade redistricting without the proper empirical evidence necessary to make judicious decisions.
“This is comparable to saying at a basketball game, ‘We're going to take out two of your players because you may outscore us in the next half,’” Green said. “So at halftime, we decide two of your five won't play. So you're gonna have to play with three, not five. We'll continue to play with five.
“We may even have six. Let's have six for our side and you have three on your side. Oh, we supposed to have 10 on the court? That's right. Okay. Well, look, we'll have seven and you have three.
“That's what this is all about, changing the numbers so that the President can maintain his authoritarian rule.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attends a House Oversight hearing. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura