Colorado Springs, Colorado – As Texas Republicans plow with a Plan to redraw the Congress cards before the calendarMany governors are increasingly struggling with a problem they did not think they should face until the end of the decade.
The unforeseen redistribution effort of Texas – which, according to the Republicans, could help protect their close majority in the House in the mid -term elections next year – has had a training effect, with governors across the country which floats the possibility of continuing the prosecution of adding or counting or of the plan, depending on their affiliation of party.
During the summer meeting of the Bipartisan National Governors Association in Colorado Springs, the Democrats largely condemned efforts to Texas while encouraging the efforts of their own party in other states.
“It is deplorable,” said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a democrat, in an interview on the touch of the summit, referring to the attempt by the Texas Republicans.
Regarding threats by Democratic governments. Gavin Newsom from California and Kathy Hochul from New York to move forward with plans to redraw the lines of the congress in their states, Murphy added: “I don’t think we have the choice.”
“If they will play these games, we will have to be just as aggressive,” said Murphy, adding that “we cannot bring a knife to a shooting.”
When asked if he would tolerate a redistribution effort in New Jersey, Murphy said that “all the options are on the table in New Jersey”, although he recognized that there were major obstacles to do so.
“I fear that there are significant constitutional constraints here in ours [state] Constitution, “he said in New Jersey, as in many other states, an independent committee oversees redistribution.
“But we examine all the options – and we have to, as a democrats. If that is how the other guys will go, we must respond with force,” said Murphy. “We have no choice.”
The Democratic Governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, described the actions of the Texas Republicans “really sinister”, “unreasonable” and “completely contrary to ethics”, and called his colleagues Democratic governors to “fight fire with fire”.
“It is an obvious attempt to steal the elections,” said Green, although he also said that “the Democratic Party cannot stay next to it and watch it happen.”
“It is very unhappy, because two wrongs do not do good. But we cannot allow a game to break the rules, then in a coherent way in the future, violate more rules,” he added.
“This turns into a knife fight,” said Green.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott launched a special legislative session on Monday, the congress reducing one of the subjects on the list of legislators’s tasks.
The New York Times reported last month That the members of Trump’s political operation had exhorted the Republicans of Texas to redraw their cards before the mid-term of 2026. And Trump himself publicly published efforts, urging Texas legislators to take measures that would help the GOP to earn five house seats. The Republicans currently control 25 of the 38 districts of the Texas Congress.
The redistribution process generally occurs at the start of each new decade, when new census data is available. The current Texas cards were drawn in 2021, after the 2020 census, although they are always fought in court.
The republican effort in Texas has prompted some Democrats to retaliate by threatening their own regimes of redistribution of mid-December. Most importantly, Newsom, a potential presidential candidate in 2028, raised the idea of Retrigate California’s cards. But this effort would have come with major obstacles: an independent commission controls the redistribution process in California, not the governor.
Thursday, Hochul also entered the fray, answering a question about redistribution in New York saying: “Everything is just in love and in war”, ” According to politico. Although he did not promise any action, she added that she “would look at him carefully with” the Democratic chief of the Hakeem Jeffries Chamber, Dn.Y.
Elsewhere, the Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker answered a question On the question of whether his condition should continue the redistribution to counterbalance the push of Texas by accusing the Republicans of trying to “cheat” before the middle. And a spokesman for the Maryland Wes Moore Democratic Governor said to the New York Times This week, he “will continue to assess all the options”.
On the other side of the aisle, just days after the Supreme Court of the State confirmed the new map of the State CongressFlorida Republican Governor Ron Desantis said that “there may be more faults that must be corrected”. He added that changes in the state in the state since the census led him to believe that the state is “malported” and that it would be appropriate to do a redistribution here in mid-December “.
And in Ohio, state legislators are required to draw new Congress cards before 2026 because their current lines have gone without Bipartisan support. The Republicans control 10 of the 15 Ohio house seats.
Other NGA Democratic leaders have not urged colleagues governors of their party to move forward with their own redistribution plans.
“I would really call on the Texas Republicans not to give in to the temptation and to stick to the map they themselves attracted which benefits the Republicans in the Texas delegation and to continue until the normal redistribution period occurs at the end of the decade,” said the governor of Colorado Jeared Polis during an interview. In Colorado, as in California, redistribution efforts are supervised by an independent commission.
Meanwhile, some NGA Republicans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the threats of redistocking the two parties.
“I will be perfectly honest. I only think about it once every 10 years,” said Utah Gop Spencer Cox governor in an interview. “Obviously, there are concerns about Gerrymandering, and the two parties do it – you know, no one has clean hands.”
“I don’t like it. I want there to be a better way. I want there to be a non -partisan way. Many states have tried,” added Cox.
The former governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, a Republican, said that he would refuse to condemn the efforts of Texas, even if he himself helped Colorado to advance his own independent redistribution commission.
“As long as so many democratic states are still reducing the old -fashioned way, the republican states too. I therefore have no criticism for Texas, since they work in the same rules that have governed so many states – democrats and republicans – in the past,” said Owens. He added that his own approach, if he was still governor, “would be to try to redistrict in a bipartite way”.
