Hakeem Jeffries Asked How Blue States Should Respond To Texas Redistricting Effort

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Democratic press briefing on Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke about the redistricting effort in Texas to try and increase the number of Republicans in Congress.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Lloyd. Thank you, Lizzie. Thank you, Catherine and Susan, for your great leadership.

00:06And let me thank the entire Texas congressional delegation. Questions?

00:10Was it a mistake for blue states to have handed over some of their redistricting power to independent commissions?

00:16We're focused right now on this aggressive and egregious gerrymander that will undermine the ability of Texans

00:26to participate in a free and fair election and determine who will represent them in the United States Congress.

00:34Should New York or California open up their lines in response to this?

00:38Same response.

00:40Are you concerned about an emerging red state versus blue state, tip versus tat,

00:45redistricting theme coming out of this and what that means for democracy big picture?

00:51As has been indicated, democracy is under assault in a way that will impact the quality

00:56of life of the people of Texas and beyond.

01:00Who's in office matters?

01:02This is a desperate attempt by Republicans who are running scared based on the fact they have an unpopular president,

01:11an unpopular one big ugly bill, and an unpopular agenda that has ripped health care away from millions of Americans,

01:19stealing food from hungry children, veterans, and seniors.

01:25And all of this is being done in order to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks.

01:32This agenda has done nothing by Republicans to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America.

01:39Costs aren't going down.

01:41Inflation is going up.

01:42And the quality of life of the American people is getting worse.

01:45Republicans have chosen to respond to this by trying to gerrymander and rig the Texas congressional map

01:55and the midterm elections.

01:57It's important to remember, as Susan indicated, there has been tremendous overperformance

02:03in midterm elections by Democrats when we've found ourselves in that situation before.

02:11Donald Trump has ordered Texas Republicans to try to produce five additional seats.

02:19I have no expectation that they're going to show any political courage.

02:23Texas Republicans are likely going to continue to act like political punks

02:28and bend the knee to Donald Trump's extreme agenda.

02:35In doing so, they will jeopardize their own electoral careers.

02:41And that is the case as it relates to Texas congressional Republicans and members of the Texas legislature

02:50who may vote for an egregious and gerrymandered new congressional map.

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