In our last report, we touched on how Texas is gerrymandering its congressional district maps mid-decade, something we rarely see.
However, this has started a domino effect in which several major Democrat-led states are considering doing the same thing.
While people may not realize it, the steps being taken by Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) to end this trend could actually help the GOP.
As I stated in the last report, Texas is about to redraw its lines, but the process was slowed when Democrats left town and prevented a quorum in the legislature.
The new maps would likely allow the GOP to pick up five seats in an election year in which Republicans will be fighting an uphill battle to hold power in the House.
There has been only one presidency in modern history that gained seats in its first midterm election after a party change in the White House, and that was the administration of George W. Bush.
Trump clearly knows this, which is why he reportedly pointed to Texas to change its maps in order for the GOP to gain a few seats.
Several Democrat governors have responded by saying they will fight fire with fire, updating their own maps if Texas follows through with its redistricting plans.
Even though California, New York, and Illinois already have gerrymandered maps, they are now looking to go big to offset the Texas gains.
If just those three states change their maps, they will more than counterbalance the gains made by Texas, but nobody seems to understand that.
Well, almost nobody, as Rep. Kiley is hoping to stop this train dead in its tracks.
Kiley is set to introduce legislation that would block all mid-decade redistricting across the country, allowing maps only to be drawn in the immediate aftermath of a new census.
He stated, "It creates a lot of instability if you're just constantly shifting the lines on the map around so that, you know, representatives are losing constituents, losing communities, gaining new ones. People elect one person as their representative, and then suddenly that person is representing an entirely different area.”
Kiley continued, "It's just total chaos. It's not good for representative government. It's not good for constituents. It is not good for Democrats or Republicans."
I support him 100% on this, but I doubt Trump is going to see it the same way, and he is likely to veto the legislation if it comes across his desk. I can only hope that someone gets in Trump’s ear, because the strategy in Texas will almost surely backfire on us if Democrats throw their intended counterpunch.
