Happy Wednesday, Democrats. Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions.
Between new revelations about Trump's involvement with late sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, tsunami warnings on the California coast, and coverage of the most recent tragic shooting in New York City, it can feel overwhelming to pay attention to anything beyond the largest headlines of the day.
One of the forgotten headlines? Texas Governor Greg Abbott's Trump-fueled threat to gerrymander his districts, to create '5 new seats' as he was directed by the President. Gerrymandering is a tool of voter suppression, in which a party manipulates the boundaries of an electoral district to favor its political motives.
The tug-of-war between Democrats and Republicans over redistricting has continued for years. An unusually public fight over what is typically a behind-the-scenes political maneuver, largely because of the murky constitutional standing of partisan gerrymandering. Today, we’re diving deep into the myths and realities of gerrymandering and unpacking the claim that Republicans believe they’re entitled to “five extra seats.”
- As described by the Republican Party of Texas, the efforts to split up metropolitan areas into GOP-majority districts are "an essential step to preserving GOP control in Congress."
FACT: The current Texas district maps already have a history of discrimination and districting based on race. A 2023 federal court case ruled that Galveston County’s redistricting map, which 'denied Galveston’s Black and Latino voters the equal opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice,' violated Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Republicans don't even feel confident in their ability to win elections in the racially-divided districts that they designed.
- On July 16th, while discussing Congressional districting maps, Trump said to reporters, "There could be some other states we're going to get another three, or four, or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one... Just a simple redrawing, we pick up five seats."
FACT: This might not be as easy for Republicans as they make it sound. According to a 2024 study by Pew Research Center, fewer than 1 in 10 Congressional seats were actually competitive prior to the 2024 election, in part due to intense gerrymandering efforts more than a decade earlier, prior to the 2010 midterms. This means the GOP may have already maximized the benefits it can get from splitting majority-blue areas, or as writer Matt Ford puts it, "in some ways, the GOP is constrained by its own success here." This could make it much more difficult for MAGA Republicans to create a GOP safehold in Kansas, Ohio, and Florida than Trump thinks.
And one truth...
- Democratic governors, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, have all stood up to offer their own fights against the GOP gerrymander craze. “All’s fair in love and war. We’re following the rules. We do redistricting every 10 years,” Hochul said in Buffalo on Thursday. “But if there’s other states violating the rules and are trying to give themselves an advantage, all I’ll say is, I’m going to look at it closely with Hakeem Jeffries.” Newsom held a meeting with leaders of the Texas state legislature to discuss the GOP efforts, and has announced plans to create new blue seats in California.
FACT: Redistricting in California is a more complicated process than in Texas, due to a 2008 proposition that established the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which decides electoral lines. However, it is absolutely still possible to redistrict California to open up new blue seats. Democrats' insistence on fighting back against Republican gerrymandering in the largest blue states in the nation hopefully sets Democrats up for success in the midterms.
Gerrymandering has been a tool in the pocket of Republicans for a long time, often as a form of voter suppression. But Democrats are ready to fight back.
The first step in standing up to the Trump administration is setting the record straight; correcting misinformation is a job for us all. If you had this email forwarded, you can sign up for the #TrumpCheck newsletter here.
Stay safe, stay strong, and keep up the good fight, Democrats.
We'll be back at defending the truth next week. Until then, stay tuned to our social media channels, linked below, for updates on the LACDP's fight against Trump.
In Solidarity,
Team LACDP
