Democrats Eye Their Own Redistricting Push to Counter Trump’s Texas Power Play

Democrats are looking to employ a “fight-fire-with-fire” approach to President Donald Trump’s aggressive push to redraw Texas’ House districts in ways that would benefit Republican candidates in next year’s midterm elections, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries confirmed Sunday.

The party is reportedly examining the viability of similar redistricting efforts in California and New York, as well as a number of other Democratic-led states, including New Jersey, Minnesota and Washington.

When asked about the redistricting plans in an interview on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday morning, Jeffries confirmed Democrats were looking into the idea — but argued it was not the same thing as what Republicans were up to in Texas.

“I think that if you have a situation where Republicans are unleashing every malignant scheme possible to try to undermine the principle of free and fair elections and disenfranchise millions of people in Texas and beyond that, it’s incumbent upon all of us to take a close look at how do we ensure that the congressional map writ large is as fair as possible in advance of the midterm elections?” Jeffries said.

“Some of the best and brightest lawyers in the country are looking at every single aspect of what’s possible in these states,” he added.

Jeffries earlier this week called the Republican tactics being employed in Texas an “egregious effort to rig the [midterm] elections.” He also responded “stay tuned” to a reporter’s question about whether or not Democrats would explore redistricting in states where they control the legislature.

Several prominent Democrats have backed the effort, including former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who cheered the news during a separate interview on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday.

“I think Democrats in the past too often have been more concerned with being right than being in power,” he said. “And we have seen Republicans only care about being in power, regardless of what is right.”

“We have got to fight back. We cannot roll over,” O’Rourke added. “We cannot play dead. We cannot submit to them, as Democrats for far too long have done.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom seemingly endorsed the idea earlier this week on X as well, writing “two can play this game” in response to the news of Texas’ plans.

“We got to fight fire with fire, so I support anything [Newsom] wants to do,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who has reportedly consulted with Jeffries about the issue, told CNN. “We shouldn’t just admire the problem.”

Blue-state Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Marc Veasey, Lou Correa and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also endorsed the idea when approached by the network.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the state legislature that is set to begin on Monday after Trump urged him to redraw Texas’ political boundaries. Eric Gay/AP

Other Democrats, however, were not so excited about blowing up the long-held norms surrounding redistricting. It also remains unclear whether such efforts would survive a court challenge.

“I think it is unacceptable and dangerous for essentially what people marched during the Civil Rights Movement for,” said Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat at risk of losing his seat if Trump’s plan succeeds.

Earlier this week Democrats vowed to do everything within their power to stop the Lone Star State’s efforts to remake its congressional map, which Trump reportedly said would give Republicans five additional seats in the House after the 2026 midterms.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the state legislature that is set to begin on Monday after Trump urged him to redraw Texas’ political boundaries — a highly unusual mid-decade redistricting effort that traditionally happens every 10 years after the Census is held. The session will also address recovery efforts after deadly floods devastated the state earlier this month.

Jeffries and other top Democrats have urged their colleagues in Texas to stay away from the special session in an effort to break quorum and stop the redistricting, though some have expressed reluctance to holding up flood recovery efforts.