Democrats seek to fight fire with fire on redistricting

Democrats on Capitol Hill are pressing blue-state governors to redraw their House lines in response to a similar push by Texas Republicans, warning it's the party's only chance to flip control of the lower chamber — and provide a check on President Trump — after next year's midterms. 

The Democrats are quick to maintain that mid-decade redistricting — a rare move defying the traditional decennial process — is a rotten trend to emulate and a bad precedent to set. But the urgency in what Democrats see as an existential fight against Trump demands a bending of the rules, they say, to fight fire with fire.  

"If the Republicans are going to redistrict in the middle of the decade, then we have no choice but to do the same," said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). "Because to do otherwise would be unilateral disarmament." 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is already heading in that direction, saying he’s weighing multiple options for how the state can redraw its lines to counter the Texas GOP. And there's speculation that Democratic leaders in several other blue states, including Illinois and New York, are assessing whether to follow suit.  

As those discussions evolve, House Democrats say they're facing two bad options: Either they stick to their favored tradition of once-a-decade redistricting and watch Republicans, with a boost from Texas, keep control of the House in 2027, or they hold their noses and adopt the mid-decade re-mapping to neutralize the changes coming from Austin. Given the stakes, many are leaning toward the latter.  

"It's a race to the bottom, and I wish we weren't in this place," said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). "But they have sort of forced the conversation, and I think you can understand why California and some other places feel like they've got no choice but to consider something like that.”  

"I mean, are we just going to sit back and take it?" 

Trump fired off the first salvo this month when he said he was vying to pick up five seats in Texas as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) holds a special session next week to consider redistricting, among other priorities. Republicans in Washington are bracing for the traditional headwinds that accompany the president’s party in power during midterm seasons, and a mid-cycle redraw in deep-red Texas could help blunt the Republicans’ losses next year. 

The move quickly infuriated Democrats, who saw Trump and Republicans as trying to game the system and preserve their slim House majority before Democrats decided to change their tune and try to offset potential Republican gains by considering mid-cycle redistricting in blue states. 

“We can act holier than thou. We can sit on the sidelines, talk about the way the world should be,” Newsom told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, “or we can recognize the existential nature that is this moment.” 

California uses an independent redistricting commission to draw the state’s maps, a body that was initially borne out of a ballot measure that state voters approved in 2008, and that was later updated in 2010. 

Newsom has floated several ideas over how Democrats could tackle mid-cycle redistricting around the independent commission: One would be to create a constitutional amendment to go before voters, which would likely address the independent redistricting body, so that lawmakers could redraw the House maps. 

Another would be what he described as a “novel legal question,” which would ultimately end in lawmakers crafting the lines themselves on the idea that the state constitution doesn’t say anything about what happens during mid-cycle redistricting. 

Members of California’s congressional delegation have signaled they’re on board even if their initial preference is to adhere to the independent redistricting commission. 

“It's out of my hands, it’s not really my choice or my process, but I do think that Democrats need to stop bringing [a] butter knife to a gunfight,” said Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.), who represents a competitive House seat. 

“All of us want to see a fair process, but if Republicans are going to try to cheat and redistrict, I think Democratic states need to consider all options,” he added. 

Huffman said Democrats in California could “easily” pick up three or four seats through redistricting — and “maybe more.”  

As Newsom plots his next move, some Democrats say other blue states should jump on board.  

Torres said New York laws would make the process tricky, but he’s pushing for it just the same, “to the extent that we can legally.” 

“New York is more complicated because of the state constitution,” he said. “But if Republicans are going to exhaust every means of building political power, then we should reciprocate.” 

Asked if New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is considering a mid-cycle redistricting push, her senior communications adviser Jerrel Harvey told The Hill in a statement: “Governor Hochul is closely monitoring the redistricting developments in Texas and any potential implications they may have.” 

In Illinois, some Democrats are singing a similar tune, arguing that Texas’ moves demand a retaliatory response that might include new maps in Springfield.  

"Given the extremity of what Texas is considering, it can't be ruled out,” said Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.). “They're dismantling the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchising communities that have been protected in the past, given their historic disenfranchisement.”

“We need to look at all possible recourse to keep the playing field as level as possible,” he added.

The official justification for the Texas redistricting was provided by Trump’s Justice Department, which sent a July 7 letter to Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton saying the district lines are illegal because race was a factor in how they were drawn. The suggestion was that the process discriminated against white voters.  

Four districts in particular “currently constitute unconstitutional 'coalition districts' and we urge the State of Texas to rectify these race-based considerations,” Harmeet Dhillon, assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s civil rights division, wrote to the Texas officials.  

Democrats say that argument strains credulity, since it was Abbott and GOP legislators who drew the current lines just four years ago. They're accusing Republicans of abusing their authority — and diluting the minority vote — in a brazen effort to “rig” the map to stay in power because they couldn't win otherwise. 

"It's painfully clear why Republicans are doing this. They know they are going to lose the majority next year,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm. 

While Democrats believe it’s a needed avenue to counteract Republicans’ redistricting push in Texas, the party faces several hurdles of its own. For one, some members of the party have expressed qualms over the idea to redistrict mid-cycle, suggesting it’s anti-democratic. 

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), however, countered those concerns by saying that voters were “pissed” that many “lost their health care under the president's reconciliation bill.” 

“They're also pissed that their neighbors are being apprehended by people wearing masks and indefinitely being detained, and these are non-violent people that it's happening to,” Swalwell added. “So right now, they're saying, ‘Protect us,’ and this is one break-glass way to protect it.” 

A more serious hurdle, though, could be how the maps are drawn and whether they violate the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), said that shaving down majority-minority seats “runs the danger of violating the Voting Rights Act.” 

Saenz said that MALDEF would sue if either party engaged in mid-cycle redistricting that violated the VRA as it pertained to Latino communities.  

Meanwhile, Democrats across the board say the stakes are high. 

“This is not just about Texas or California or any other blue state — this is really the moment where we decide as a country whether our democracy succeeds or fails, because it is about something so much bigger,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).