Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas told CNN host Jake Tapper Monday he is ready to respond if Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom tries to “gerrymander” more Republicans out of their congressional seats.
Democrats in the Texas Legislature fled to Democratic-controlled states like New York and Illinois to stop legislators in Texas from holding a special session. The special session would consider a redistricting plan that could net Republicans up to five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Tapper asked Abbott about Newsom’s threat to reopen redistricting in California if Texas went through with its efforts.
“Well, to be clear, listen, all those big blue states, they’ve already gerrymandered. Look at the map of Illinois. Look at the map of California, New York, and Massachusetts, and so many other blue states,” Abbott said. “They gerrymandered a long time ago.”
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“They got nothing left with regard to what they can do,” Abbott added. “And know this: If California tries to gerrymander five more districts, listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our state. We can play that game more than they can because they have fewer Republican districts in their states.”
After the 2024 elections, California is represented by 43 Democrats and nine Republicans, as opposed to 40 Democrats and 12 Republicans after the 2022 midterm elections, according to Ballotpedia.
New York redrew its congressional districts after the 2022 midterm elections, creating a map that endangered as many as six out of the 11 Republicans initially elected to the House of Representatives in that state. Democrats had 19 seats to seven for Republicans when the votes were tallied after the 2024 election, according to Ballotpedia, a gain of three seats after a Democrat won a special election caused by the expulsion of now former Republican Rep. George Santos of New York.
Illinois Democrats redrew their congressional districts to take out two Republicans, including then-Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a prominent outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, prior to the 2022 midterm elections. Illinois, which lost a seat in the 2020 census, went from 13 Democrats and five Republicans to 14 Democrats and three Republicans in the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterms, according to Ballotpedia.
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