Alex Padilla backs California redistricting against Texas Republicans
The California senator was referencing Texas Republicans' proposed new map of their state's congressional districts, following President Donald Trump's urging that the GOP find a way to flip as many as five seats in next year's midterm elections.
"Just a very simple redrawing, we pick up five seats," Trump told reporters on July 15.
Padilla likened Trump's ask of Texas Republicans to his request during his first term in office that a top Georgia official "find 11,780 votes" to put him over the top in the Electoral College for the 2020 election.
Redistricting in the middle of the decade, rather than every ten years after new census data is collected, is rare. And the pushback from Democrats across the country has been widespread.
Blue state leaders have threatened tit-for-tat responses, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has suggested redrawing his state's map to counteract Texas' efforts. (Newsom faces the challenge of a bipartisan redistricting commission, which oversees California's maps, unlike Texas, where lawmakers dictate the boundaries.)
Some California Democrats are wary, warning that a redistricting arms race could spiral and erode trust with voters.
In response to those concerns, Padilla told NBC he believes it's appropriate for the Democrat-controlled state to evaluate its options.
"The ideal scenario," he said, "is for Texas to stand down. They don't have to do this; they shouldn't do this. But if they were to go forward and deliver Trump his five additional Republicans ... the stakes are simply too high" for Democrats not to respond.
Padilla also addressed recent comments from his fellow Democrats about the state of politics and American democracy, including Sen. Cory Booker's call for his party to "have a backbone."
"It's time for us to fight. It's time for us to draw lines," Booker said from the Senate floor on July 29.
Asked whether Booker's defiant approach was the appropriate stance for Democrats under the Trump administration, Padilla said, "Look, I think the extreme way in which this administration is conducting itself calls for higher and higher profile ways of pushing back."
After announcing that she would not be running for California governor in 2026, former Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CBS's "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert.
In her interview on July 31, Harris told Colbert, "Recently, I made the decision that, for now, I don't want to go back into the system. I think it's broken."
Padilla agreed, in part, with Harris' take, saying, "I think the system is under duress."
"Democrats are doing our part to try to stand up and push back," he added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
3 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump slashed Medicaid — now he's got another health care crisis looming
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to sell the American public on their ' One Big, Beautiful Bill ' despite the fact many Americans, and even members in their own conference, worry about the cuts to Medicaid. Most voters do not trust Trump on health care and fear the significant cuts to Medicaid. Republicans already face hostile voters in their town halls when it comes to health care. But as if that were not a big enough problem, Trump and the Republicans face another looming crisis that could cause health care prices to spike. And it comes from an old political enemy: The Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama's signature health care law. 'I think there's going to be a lot of sticker shock of people who aren't following this debate in Congress and are going to be stunned by just how much their rates go up, because the premiums will increase substantially,' Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, told The Independent. In 2022, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brokered a deal with now former senator Joe Manchin for the Inflation Reduction Act. As part of the agreement, the bill extended an expansion of subsidies to the Affordable Care Act that initially passed under the American Rescue Plan Act, Joe Biden's signature piece of legislation to provide relief during the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, people who might not have health insurance under their employer but are not eligible for Medicaid can purchase health care on state exchanges. If they earn an income below a certain threshold, they could be eligible for tax credits. 'They might not get employer-sponsored health care, but they're like realtors or entrepreneurs or small business owners or Uber drivers,' one former Capitol Hill aide who now works in health care told The Independent. 'These folks – going to the exchanges trying to purchase their health insurance, they're on the precipice of seeing a big cost of living increase.' The subsidies initially passed under the ARPA, and then later under the IRA, increased eligibility for people making up to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Line. But they expire at the end of the calendar year. Oberlander said it could create a cost crisis. 'It's going to affect people in the sense that the pool will become smaller, and therefore, depending on who leaves, because it depends – the people are leaving healthier or sicker than the average, it can destabilize the pools to some extent.' he said. 'And people are going to read about it and see it, and they're going to feel it and they're going to pay it, and I think there would be a lot of anger.' Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who will not seek re-election in 2026, said Republicans could extend the package, specifically in a year-end spending package. 'I've got to believe that that may become a discussion and the year end appropriations, at least some sort of a short term extension, so they can sort it out,' he told The Independent last week before recess. The government runs out of funding for the fiscal year at the end of September. Open enrollment for the health insurance marketplaces typically begins in November. But Democrats are not as confident. 'Here we are trying to fix all the things that they broke,' Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told The Independent. 'You've got Republican senators introducing bills to undo the things that they just passed.' There's evidence this could have massive consequences for patients. In December 2024, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that 2.2 million Americans could lose their health insurance by 2026 if the extended subsidies expired. It also warned that 3.7 million people could lose coverage by 2027. Still, some Republicans said that they do not want to make a fix. 'Obamacare is doing so much damage to our healthcare system, to our federal budget, I don't want to renew any part of it. quite honestly,' Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told The Independent. 'We need to repair the damage done by Obamacare.' But Trump might not have a choice. Polling shows that health care is one of the few policies where voters still trust Democrats more than Republicans. 'This is not the same ACA that he ran against in 2016, it covers many more people, both through Medicaid and in the marketplace,' Oberlander said. 'It's much more popular than it was, and if his administration and congressional Republicans are seen as gutting the health insurance marketplaces and raising people's millions of people's premiums, that's bad politics, and it's bad politics at a time when he already has a fairly low approval rating.'
Scottish Sun
3 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Trump's top US intelligence chief says she believes in aliens and vows to ‘share the truth' on UFOs
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE US intelligence chief has vowed to "share the truth" on UFOs after saying she believes in aliens and that extraterrestrials are real. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence in Donald Trump's administration, hinted that she has a lot of classified information on aliens but is forced to remain tight-lipped due to her job. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 The US Department of Defense released footage of one UFO caught by an aircraft Credit: AFP 5 UFOs were spotted hovering over top-secret military bases and flying near aircraft, according to the US Navy (computer-generated image) Credit: Getty 5 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has hinted that she has a lot of classified information on aliens Credit: The Mega Agency Speaking with Pod Force One podcast host Miranda Devine, Gabbard was asked if "there could be aliens". The US intel chief replied: "I have my own views and opinions. In this role, I have to be careful with what I share." Devine then asked Gabbard if she believes aliens and UFOs are real, to which she replied: "Yes." She said that right now she has "nothing to share with the public about aliens and UFOs today". read more on UFOs UFO DECLASSIFIED First ever bombshell vid of infamous 'Mosul orb' UFO is released But she vowed to reveal the truth when the time comes. "We're continuing to look for the truth and share that truth with the American people," Gabbard told the New York Post podcast host. Americans are curious and fascinated about aliens more than ever. One Pentagon whistleblower who claims UFOs are real presented his bombshell testimony at a major "alien" hearing before the US Congress last year. Former counterintelligence officer Luis Elizondo, who is said to have investigated UFO cases while at the Department of Defence, claimed America is in "possession of UAP technologies". In Elizondo's written testimony, the former defence expert said many "advanced technologies" that do not belong to the US or any other government exist around the world. First ever bombshell vid of infamous 'Mosul orb' UFO is released Trump has long pushed for more transparency on UFOs and ET life. He vowed last year to reveal exclusive UFO footage if he was elected back to the White House. The MAGA prez said he would push the Pentagon to declassify the alleged UFO sighting videos in a sensational interview. He told popular American podcaster Lex Fridman that he would "surely" make secret footage of alleged UFO sightings public. During the chat, Fridman asked Trump: "Will you help push the Pentagon to release more footage, which a lot of people claim is available?" To which Trump readily agreed and said: "Oh yeah, sure, I'll do that. I would do that. I'd love to do that. I have to do that." The Republican leader also claimed he had faced pressure to declassify previous records of alien encounters as he admitted "there could be life on other planets". 5 Donald Trump vowed to declassify footage of alleged UFO sightings Credit: AP 5 A whistleblower came forward with bombshell allegations that the US has a secret UFO retrieval program Credit: Getty He added: "People begged me not to do it but I'll be doing that very early on." It comes after the first-ever bombshell footage of the infamous "Mosul orb" UFO captured by a US spy plane in Iraq has now been released. The declassified video, filmed in 2016 by a US MC-12 surveillance aircraft, shows a mysterious metallic spherical object flying over the city of Mosul. Interestingly, the four-second footage shows the UFO flying at a constant speed without dropping altitude. The object appeared suddenly and moved erratically in and out of the camera's view. The clip was obtained by Dustin Slaughter, a leading UFO investigator, through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request - and was shown to the public by UFO podcaster Jeremy Corbell. It comes two years after the first still image from the video was declassified by the Pentagon. Meanwhile, another declassified UFO footage showed a similar mystery metal orb soaring above the ground - leaving US officials puzzled. In 2023, A testimony was heard at Capitol Hill, Washington DC, as the Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office revealed the shocking clips. The videos released in the declassified cases are said to have been observed by US military drones. The footage showed a mystery "metal orb" as it hovered and flew across open airspace. The incidents were believed to have been recorded in the Middle East and South Asia.
Sky News
3 minutes ago
- Sky News
Trump could meet Putin as early as next week to discuss Ukraine ceasefire
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin in person as early as next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said. They said the meeting would be conditional on the Russian president meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sky News's US partner network NBC News reported. It came days before the White House's deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic penalties, which could also target countries buying its oil. Earlier in the day, Mr Putin held talks with Mr Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, with the meeting lasting around three hours. In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Mr Witkoff "had a highly productive meeting" with Mr Putin in which "great progress was made". He said he had updated America's European allies and they will work towards an end to the Russia-Ukraine war "in the days and weeks to come". Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Trump spoke on the phone after the meeting. He said "European leaders also participated in the conversation" and "we discussed what was said in Moscow". He added: "Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: The war must end. We all need lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it started." He later said: "It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire." He added that the pressure on Moscow "is working", without elaborating, and stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not "deceive us or the United States" when it comes to "the details" of a potential agreement. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
