Trump tells Texas Republicans to redraw the state congressional map to help keep House majority

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that helium is pushing Texas Republicans to redraw the state's legislature maps to make much House seats favorable to his party, portion of a broader effort to assistance the GOP clasp power of the enclosure successful adjacent year’s midterm elections.

The president’s directive signals portion of the strategy Trump is apt to instrumentality to debar a repetition of his archetypal term, erstwhile Democrats flipped the House conscionable 2 years into his presidency. It comes soon earlier the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature is scheduled to statesman a peculiar league adjacent week during which it volition see caller legislature maps to further marginalize Democrats successful the state.

Asked arsenic helium departed the White House for Pittsburgh astir the anticipation of adding GOP-friendly districts astir the country, Trump responded, “Texas volition beryllium the biggest one. And that’ll beryllium five.”

Trump had a telephone earlier Tuesday with members of Texas' Republican legislature delegation and told them the authorities Legislature would prosecute 5 caller winnable seats done redistricting, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted the telephone who was not authorized to sermon it. The telephone was archetypal reported by Punchbowl News.

Some Texas Republicans person been hesitant astir redrawing the maps due to the fact that there's lone truthful galore caller seats a enactment tin drawback earlier its incumbents are enactment astatine risk. Republicans summation caller seats by relocating Democratic voters retired of competitory areas and into different GOP-leaning ones, which whitethorn past crook competitory with the influx.

“There comes the constituent wherever you portion the baloney excessively bladed and it backfires,” said Rick Hasen, a instrumentality prof astatine the University of California, Los Angeles.

Democrats volition person a hard clip retaliating

Congressional maps drawn aft the 2020 census were expected to stay successful spot done the extremity of the decade. If Texas redraws them astatine the behest of Trump, that could pb different states to bash the same, including those controlled by Democrats. In effect to the Texas plan, California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote connected societal media: “Two tin play this game.”

Still, Democrats whitethorn person their hands astatine slightest partially tied. Many of the states the enactment controls person their authorities legislative and legislature maps drawn by autarkic commissions that are not expected to favour either party. That's the lawsuit successful California, wherever Newsom has nary relation successful the redistricting crippled aft voters approved the committee strategy with a 2008 ballot measure.

“There isn't a full batch Democrats tin bash close now,” said Michael Li of the Brennan Center for Justice. “In presumption of doing tit-for-tat, they've got a weaker hand.”

Li noted that Democrats are backing lawsuits to overturn immoderate GOP-drawn maps, and there's a accidental immoderate of those could beryllium palmy earlier the midterm elections. That includes successful Wisconsin, wherever the caller wide bulk connected the authorities ultimate tribunal declined to instantly overturn the state's GOP-drawn legislature maps earlier this year. Democrats and their allies person filed suit successful a little tribunal hoping to bushed the timepiece and get caller maps successful spot by adjacent year.

Democrats besides person litigation successful Utah and Florida.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a lawsuit retired of Louisiana that seeks to unravel 1 bulk Black territory mandated by the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit could pb to sweeping changes successful longstanding rules requiring mapmakers to guarantee that radical minorities get a accidental to beryllium an electoral bulk oregon plurality successful immoderate areas.

The precocious tribunal is expected to regularisation successful that lawsuit by adjacent summer.

Re-opening maps undermines ‘free and just elections’

Redistricting is simply a constitutionally mandated process for redrawing governmental districts aft the once-a-decade census to guarantee they person adjacent populations. But determination is nary prohibition against rejiggering maps betwixt censuses, and sometimes tribunal rulings person made that mandatory. The question of voluntary mid-decade redistricting that Trump is encouraging, however, is unusual.

It's besides near immoderate Democrats fuming that their enactment has ceded overmuch its mapmaking powerfulness to autarkic commissions successful states it controls, including Colorado, Michigan and Washington.

“Reformers often bash not recognize the value of governmental power,” said Rick Ridder, a Democratic strategist successful Denver.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wouldn't remark connected whether nonpartisan systems should beryllium rolled back, alternatively saying Trump's propulsion volition “undermine escaped and just elections.”

“Public servants should gain the votes of the radical that they anticipation to represent. What Republicans are trying to bash successful Texas is to person politicians take their voters,” Jeffries told reporters.

Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, whose territory includes portion of Austin, besides criticized Texas Republicans for focusing connected redistricting aft floods killed astatine slightest 132 people, and with much inactive missing.

“There’s nary uncertainty determination were the failures astatine each level of authorities — the county, the authorities of Texas, the national government. What the peculiar league should beryllium astir is doing thing to close those failures,” said Doggett. “Redistricting, this scheme, is an enactment of desperation.”

Texas lawmakers volition see a caller representation during peculiar session

The peculiar Texas legislative league scheduled to commencement Monday is intended to absorption chiefly connected the aftermath of the deadly floods.

An docket for the league acceptable by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott enactment distant plans to instrumentality up “legislation that provides a revised legislature redistricting program successful airy of law concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Republicans successful Ohio besides are poised to redraw their maps aft years of governmental and tribunal battles implicit the state's redistricting process. The GOP-controlled Legislature is considering expanding the party's pb successful the legislature delegation to arsenic overmuch arsenic 13-2. It presently has a 10-5 advantage.

Still, determination are applicable limits arsenic to however galore caller seats immoderate enactment tin compression from a map. That's wherefore immoderate Texas Republicans person been hesitant astir different redraw. In 2011, the party's legislators drew an assertive representation to grow their majority, lone to find seats they thought were harmless washed distant successful the 2018 Democratic question predetermination during Trump's archetypal term.

In response, the representation successful 2021 was drawn much cautiously, chiefly preserving the GOP's existent outsized bulk successful its legislature delegation. There are 25 Republican House members from the authorities compared to 12 Democrats and 1 Democratic vacancy that is scheduled to beryllium filled by a peculiar election. A five-seat displacement into the GOP file would mean the enactment holds 30 of Texas' 38 seats aft winning 56% of the ballot successful past year's statesmanlike election.

Both parties spot imaginable advantages

In Austin, Republican lawmakers said they clasp the accidental to redraw maps.

State Rep. Brian Harrison, who served successful the archetypal Trump administration, said lawmakers tin bash it successful a mode that's “thoughtful and constructive.”

“This is thing that we tin do, and thing that we should do,”

GOP Texas Sen. John Cornyn said helium expects a caller representation volition pb to “significant gains," successful portion due to the fact that Latino voters person been trending toward Republicans successful caller elections.

But Rep. Suzan DelBene, seat of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Tuesday that determination was nary mode to redraw the boundaries without exposing much GOP incumbents to a imaginable Democratic wave. When a enactment wins the White House, it usually loses seats successful the midterms.

“Any caller representation that Texas Republicans gully volition astir inevitably make much competitory districts,” DelBene told reporters. “This strategy to rig the maps is hardly going to enactment up their majority. It is going to grow the battleground successful the contention for the majority.”

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This communicative has been updated to close the spelling of the sanction of the seat of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

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Associated Press Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro successful Washington and writers Nadia Lathan successful Austin, Texas, and Julie Carr Smyth successful Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.