Arnold Schwarzenegger lashes out at gerrymandering Democrats

Telegraph

05-08-2025

Arnold Schwarzenegger has waded into the Texas redistricting row after Democrats fled the state to block Donald Trump's effort to redraw the state's political map.
The Terminator actor said attempts to gerrymander state boundaries by either party were 'evil' as he prepared to oppose California Governor Gavin Newsom's plans to combat Mr Trump by redistricting his own state.
'He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it's truly evil for politicians to take power from people,' a spokesman for the actor told Politico. 'He's opposed to what Texas is doing, and he's opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing.'
In 2010, the former California governor, 78, spearheaded reform to place responsibility for redistricting the state in the hands of an independent commission.
He is now helping to lead a 'no' campaign against Mr Newsom's plans to call a vote on the issue.
Mr Newsom said he is 'very' confident he can secure a two-thirds legislative supermajority required if he put the question on the ballot in a November special election, as he pledged to 'fight fire with fire'.
It comes after more than 50 Democratic lawmakers boarded chartered planes on Sunday as they sought to deny the Texas House of Representatives the quorum required to vote on the redrawn congressional map, which would favour the Republican Party.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump broke his silence on the issue, saying Republicans are within their rights to claim more congressional seats in Texas, pointing to Democratic-led states where he says Republicans are under-represented.
The president, who has held his tongue since Democrats skipped town on Sunday, told CNBC: 'I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know. And we are entitled to five more seats.'
Pointing to blue states such as Illinois, Mr Trump said the Democrats 'did it to us first', adding: 'It's all gerrymandered.'
Some of the 57 Democrat refuseniks fled to New York, where they met with Governor Kathy Hochul, while others travelled to Illinois, where they are being supported by billionaire Governor JB Pritzker.
The Texas House voted 85-6 on Monday to track down and arrest those lawmakers not present in the chamber, after which House Speaker Dustin Burrows signed civil warrants for each of the legislators, empowering state troopers to bring them to the state Capitol.
Following the ruling, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, ordered Texas Rangers to investigate the absconding Democrats for violations of state law, including bribery.
'Any Democrat who solicited or accepted funds to break quorum may have violated bribery laws,' Mr Abbott wrote on X.
'Texas Rangers must quickly send any findings to the appropriate prosecutors.'
The orders are largely symbolic as neither body has the authority to track down and arrest the lawmakers across state lines.
At the centre of the escalating impasse is Mr Trump's plans to add five more Republican-leaning seats to the Texas state legislature before next year's midterm elections in order to preserve the GOP's slim house majority.
Redistricting usually happens once every 10 years following the national census in order to account for shifts in the population.
Texas has 38 seats in the House. The Republican Party occupies 25 of those seats, and Democrats 12, with one seat vacant following the death of Sylvester Turner in March.
Some swing district Republicans, including California Representative Kevin Kiley and New York Representative Mike Lawler, have spoken out against partisan gerrymandering on both sides of the aisle, in a rare display of internal party dissent.
Mr Lawler wrote on X: 'Gerrymandering is wrong and should be banned everywhere — including in New York, Texas, California, and Illinois. I'm introducing legislation to ban it,' inviting Democrats to sign on.
Democrats, including Mr Newsom and Ms Hochul, have mounted an aggressive push in recent days to counter Republican redistricting by drawing up similar plans in their own states.
Standing with Texas legislators at a press conference in Illinois, on Tuesday, Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, promised that the party is 'bringing a knife to a knife fight' rather than standing by.
He added that the GOP plan in Texas is 'a test case for the rest of the country' and a 'model for other red states to lie, cheat and steal away to victory'.
While the Democrats spoke of the need to fight back against the Republican redistricting plan, such a move is limited by the state's constraints.
The rules of redistricting can be vague and variable – each state has its own set of rules and procedures. Politicians are gauging what voters will tolerate when it comes to politically motivated map-making.
Texas, New York and California are not the only states seeking to redraw congressional lines.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, said he was 'very seriously' looking to redraw the state's map, claiming the 2020 US census was flawed.