By Michael Woyton
Are Democrats going to respond to GOPmagas gerrymandering congressional districts in order to assure a Republican majority in the House by saying, “Oh no, we mustn’t break the rules even if they do”?
There is as yet no firm answer to the question, but if you’d asked me a day or so ago, I would have said the Dems were absolutely going to sit by and let Republicans steal the midterms through mid-decade redistricting.
However, on Monday, I’m a little more encouraged — but not completely convinced — that Democrats are finally aware that the GOPmagas will never ever play fair and it’s time to fight back.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul met Monday in Albany with six Democrats from the Texas State Legislature who left the Lone Star State to deny Republicans a quorum so the mid-decade redistricting measure couldn’t be brought to a vote.
Hochul, who was also joined by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, called the redistricting effort “a blatant power grab,” Spectrum News reported.
“Congressional districts are never re-drawn mid-decade,” Hochul was quoted as saying. “But here they are, flagrantly breaking the rules so they can hold onto power. And with that power, they’re gonna inflict even more pain.”
The governor said that both Heastie and Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, are on board with looking into redistricting the Empire State.
Hochul said they are already reviewing legal strategies and working on a legislative process.
“[W]e’ll do everything in our power to stop this brazen assault,” she said. “The gloves are off, and I say bring it on.”
When asked if the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission should be changed or even eliminated to allow redistricting, Hochul said it should.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom met with Dem members of the Texas Legislature July 25 and said that California’s moral high ground “means nothing if we’re powerless because of it,” according to a news release.
He said there was only one reason the current president called Texas’s governor and asked him to gerrymander five districts to favor Republicans: to rig the 2026 elections.
“This moment requires us to be prepared to fight fire with fire,” Newsom said. “Whether that’s a special election, a ballot initiative, a bill, a fight in court. If they proceed in Texas, we will be ready.”
We’ll see if the Democrats have the stomach to wage a battle with the GOPmagas.
Certainly, we’ve had enough of Chuck Schumer’s “strongly worded letter” tactics and enough of this “if they go low, we go high” bullshit.
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Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was on fire this morning on CNBC. Where are the Republicans indeed?
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Final thought for the day.
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Lead art: Screen grab from NBC News.
On Second Thought 