Beto O'Rourke Speaks To CNN's Jake Tapper About Proposed Redistricting In Texas

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On Sunday, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper about proposed redistricting in Texas.

Transcript

00:00Thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it. So the Texas legislature run by Republicans,

00:05their special session begins tomorrow. Democrats say they're going to use whatever means necessary

00:09they can to block this redistricting effort. But Democrats are the minority, as you know.

00:14Realistically, what are the Democratic options to block this?

00:17First, just in case folks don't know what redistricting is, that's the process by which

00:23members of Congress choose their own voters. Typically that happens after the passage of

00:28the decade, the new census, it is very rare to happen in the middle of the decade.

00:32Why are they doing this? Donald Trump's policies, whether it's the big, beautiful bill that's

00:37going to take nearly 2 million Texans off of Medicaid or transfer nearly a trillion dollars of wealth

00:43to the richest 1% at the expense of working families, his policies are deeply unpopular.

00:48He doesn't want to face accountability from the voters, and he's worried about keeping his very

00:52slim majority in Congress. So he's trying to pick up five seats through this redistricting process

00:58in Texas. Now, to your question about how we fight back, there are a number of things that we

01:02can do. One, the Democratic state legislators can deny their Republican colleagues a quorum

01:08to be able to move forward on this.

01:11We've seen this before with legislators leaving the state and that sort of thing.

01:15Absolutely. And I think they at least have to try this. And all of us, wherever you live,

01:20have to get behind them. Because if we fail to support them right now, it's not just going to hurt

01:24the people of Texas. It's going to hurt people all over this country.

01:28But there's more that we can do. Governor Gavin Newsom in California has talked about a

01:32redistricting in his state. I think it's time that we match fire with fire. I think Democrats

01:38in the past too often have been more concerned with being right than being in power. And we've seen

01:44the Republicans only care about being in power regardless of what is right.

01:48So you support the Newsom effort? Because California right now has an independent commission

01:51that does districts in as fair a way as possible and nonpartisan way as possible.

01:57You're saying Democrats should, even though you don't approve of it, Democrats should do it too.

02:03We have to get serious. We have to be absolutely ruthless about getting back in power. So yes,

02:08in California, in Illinois, in New York, wherever we have the trifecta of power,

02:13we have to use that to its absolute extent. And then the last thing,

02:17this may end up biting Republicans in the ass. You have the possibility that they will disperse

02:25Republican voters to make up these three or four or five new congressional districts and put those

02:31districts in play. So in Texas, we've got to get out there and register and meet the voters who are

02:36going to decide the outcomes in these next elections if they're successful with this redistricting.

02:41Our group, Powered by People, is doing this right now on the ground. We can't wait for 2026.

02:46We've got to do the work right now in 2025.

02:48So House Democrats are exploring doing this in other blue states, New York, New Jersey,

02:53Minnesota, Washington. It's already done quite a bit in Illinois. And there's some examples of it,

02:59of Democrats taking advantage of it in Nevada. But you were in North Carolina this week and you told

03:04voters there that they need to end the process of gerrymandering. Doesn't it sound like, it sounds

03:10like you're saying that they should end the process in a Republican state or a Republican-leaning state,

03:15but do it in a Democratic state? I mean, should there be like a consistent point of view here?

03:19It's confusing, isn't it? You heard Democrats in 2024 often talk about saving democracy.

03:24People in America didn't understand what they were talking about because we really don't live

03:28in a democracy right now. When one person can spend nearly $300 million to elect their preferred

03:34candidate for president, that is not a democracy. When members of Congress can choose their own voters,

03:38that is not a democracy. When Texas makes it nearly impossible for millions to cast a ballot,

03:44that is not a democracy. So the first order of business is winning political power. And then,

03:48yes, Jake, we've got to get big money out of politics. We've got to get politicians out of

03:52the process of redistricting. We have to pass a John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

03:57And we've got to make sure that we overturn decisions like Citizens United that equate corporations

04:02with people and money with speech. That will produce a real democracy. But until we are there,

04:08we have to use every lever of power that we have right now to our advantage to make sure that we're

04:13in office. Because no one wants members of Congress choosing their own voters. But we have no ability

04:17to change that until we start winning some elections.

04:20Well, you say it sounds confusing, but others might say it's hypocritical that you're saying

04:23this is a horrible thing, and it's members of Congress choosing their voters instead of the

04:28other way around. And now Democrats need to embrace it. You know, I think that Democrats have been so

04:34scared of being branded as hypocrites or coloring outside of the lines that it has absolutely

04:40paralyzed them in this struggle for power in America. You don't see the other side worrying

04:45about any of that at all. Donald Trump defying the Constitution, the rule of law, the courts,

04:50trying to dismantle our very democracy in front of our eyes right now where we sit. We have got to fight

04:55back. We cannot roll over. We cannot play dead. We cannot submit to them as Democrats for far too

05:01long have done. We've got to fight back with everything that we've got by every single means

05:06necessary. If we don't do that, Jake, we are going to lose this country. And the people that we serve,

05:12that we represent, that we want to fight for, they're going to be hurt even more than they are right

05:16now. Very quickly, if you would, there's obviously a Senate race coming up in Texas. John Cornyn,

05:21the incumbent Republican senator, facing a challenge inside his own party from Paxson,

05:26the controversial attorney general. And Democrats obviously are going to be running as a candidate

05:34as well. I know that you have been in a conference call with other potential Democratic candidates.

05:38Are you going to run for that seat? I don't know. Right now, I'm holding these town halls all over

05:42the state of Texas, across the country, to listen to people, to bring them together,

05:46and to channel our anger into action, registering people to vote, organizing with voters right

05:51now. But I'm very optimistic about Democrats' opportunity in 2026. In Trump's last midterm

05:57in 2018, when I was running against Ted Cruz, not only did we come close to defeating the sitting

06:03senator, but 12 insurgent Democrats defeated 12 incumbent Republicans in the state House.

06:08Colin Allred, Lizzie Pannel Fletcher defeated entrenched, well-funded Republicans. You had 17 black

06:14women win judicial positions in Harris County, in Houston, Texas. It was transformational for the

06:20state of Texas. There will be a price for this extremism from Donald Trump, from the people that

06:25he's hurting across the country right now. And I think we'll see that play out in 2026.

06:29All right. Beto O'Rourke, former congressman from Texas. Democrat, thanks so much for being here.

06:34Appreciate it.

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