Democratic leaders from coast-to-coast ripped Texas Republicans on Wednesday for approving a new Congressional map that gives the GOP an opportunity to gain five additional House seats in next year’s midterm elections.
The map passed along party lines in an 88-52 vote. State senators are expected to consider the measure on Thursday for final approval before it heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) desk.
“Tonight, Texas Republicans delivered Donald Trump the rigged map he demanded,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said, after the measure passed. “Trump, Greg Abbott and their allies know they can’t win on their record of stripping health care, tanking the economy and making families pay more with less.”
“This is a last gasp of a desperate party clinging to power,” she added.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) echoed her disdain, saying the mid-decade redistricting effort signaled a sign of weakness for Republicans and an attempt to regain strength ahead of the midterms.
“You only try changing the rules if you think you’re losing — and that’s exactly what Texas Republicans are attempting to do,” Newsom shared in a post on social platform X.
“We want to give Californians the power this November to counter redistricting power grabs and stand for independently drawn maps in every state,” he added.
In a subsequent video message, Newsom offered the Texas GOP an “off-ramp.”
“If they don’t move. If Republicans stand back — they have an off ramp — this initiative, our efforts, don’t go forward. We’re doing this only in response to what he’s doing,” he said. “So if he doesn’t want us to move forward, he has some capacity to influence that.”
The governor added later, “we should let voters choose their representatives.”
The criticism comes after Texas Democrats, who fled the state to delay the vote, returned home following threats of arrest or involvement by the FBI, and as the state lawmakers racked up fines.
Newsom and Hochul have both vowed to fight Texas’s effort with similar proposals to restructure district lines in their respective states.
Democrats in California released a proposed new map last week to offset the five seats the Lone Star State is poised to gain and has called for a special session in November to vote on the measure. Golden State Republicans pushed back on the effort, filing a petition to the state Supreme Court to halt the move, though their petition was rejected.
Newsom has pressed his Democratic counterparts in New York and Illinois to move quickly on their redistricting efforts.
“In New York, we’ll confront Trump’s legal insurrection head on,” Hochul said Wednesday. “We’ll meet him on the same field and beat him at his own game.”
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) also weighed in on the effort, lauding his counterparts for creating plans to ensure what he called an equal balance of power.
“Democrats need to strike back,” Ossoff said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Weeknight.”
“We have no time or luxury for high-minded hesitation, because Trump and MAGA are going to do everything within their power to hold on and to lock in one party rule in America,” he continued. “That’s the reality that we face.”
