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Black America Web
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Jasmine Crockett Salutes 'Aggressive' Texas Dems' Strategy
Source: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Getty Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett is praising her fellow Democratic lawmakers for departing the state to thwart Republicans hell-bent on redistricting Texas' congressional maps on Sunday (Aug. 3). At a MoveOn political advocacy event held in Phoenix, Arizona, Crockett spoke about how she was 'so inspired' by the 51 lawmakers' move to leave Texas for other states such as Illinois and New York. 'Right before I got over here, my former colleagues from the Texas House, those Texas Democrats, decided to get the hell out of Texas,' Crockett said at the event. 'They decided to use whatever tools they could and breaking quorum is where they are at right now. And they didn't just do it by themselves. They went to Illinois where there is a governor that gives a damn. You see, this fight is going to take all of us.' The Republicans currently have a slim majority in the House of Representatives, and the Republicans in the 150-member state legislature of Texas unveiled a new map created at the behest of President Donald Trump last week, which would give the GOP five more seats in the House. The move is seen as a way to retain power as midterm elections approach next year – the new map means Crockett would not have a district to represent. 'I'm aggressive,' Crockett continued, detailing how necessary the move was in her eyes. 'So for me, I don't serve in the Senate but I would get rid of the filibuster if it means that we can [fight] for voting rights because we don't get rights to healthcare. We don't get rights to education. We don't get any other rights if we don't have the ability to access the ballot box. So those are the things that I would do. I would get aggressive on the Supreme Court and I would get aggressive about making sure that we equalize this thing so that we can all access the ballot box.' Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened Democratic lawmakers that they have until 3 p.m. on Monday (Aug. 4) to return to the state, or he would attempt to remove them from office. The lawmakers also face a daily $500 fine and arrest, as state Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to 'use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.' The Texas Democrats issued a statement, as reported by HuffPost Deputy Editor Philip Lewis, replying: 'Come and take it.' SEE ALSO Jasmine Crockett Salutes 'Aggressive' Texas Dems' Strategy was originally published on
Black America Web
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Texas Creates 5 New House Seats In Areas Trump Won In 2024
Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Texas Republicans stunned legislators nationwide earlier this month when Governor Greg Abbott announced a special legislative session for flood relief would also focus on drafting a new electoral map ahead of the 2026 midterms. Texas' redistricting effort resulted in a map that creates five new House seats in districts President Trump won by double digits in 2024. According to Politico, the new electoral map was revealed on Wednesday, and as expected, it entirely benefits state Republicans. The new map makes districts held by Democratic Reps Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez redder, while also packing Democratic voters into reliably blue districts. The map forces Democratic Representatives Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett to primary against each other and creates five empty seats in districts Trump won by 10-15 points last year. With just over a year until the 2026 midterms, both Democrats and Republicans will have to rush to recruit candidates to campaign for these seats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with state Democrats in Austin on Wednesday to discuss how to respond to the new map. Texas Democrats have repeatedly floated walking out of the special session to break quorum and prevent the map from gaining approval. The special session is set to end on Aug. 19, though Gov. Abbott could call another special session to make sure the map is approved. Texas's redistricting effort has spurred several other states to review their electoral maps as well. Ohio Republicans have also begun a redistricting effort, specifically targeting Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes' seat. While many Democratic leaders have criticized Texas's redistricting effort as blatant gerrymandering, that hasn't prevented several Democrat-led states from publicly floating the idea of beginning a redistricting effort themselves. New York recently unveiled a bill allowing the state to engage in a mid-decade redistricting if another state did it first, though any new map in the state wouldn't come into play until 2028 at the soonest. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been the most bullish on redistricting, pushing for state Democrats to approve drawing up a new map to go tit for tat with Texas. While in Texas, the power to redistrict lies solely with the state legislature, in many Democrat-led states, redistricting power lies with independent commissions, thus creating constitutional constraints on their ability to quickly draw up new maps. It's worth noting that while the Texas special session was announced under the pretense of flood relief, few of the bills submitted during the pre-file period had anything to do with the recent floods. Add in the fact that we've heard more about this new map than any legislation intended to provide assistance to those affected by the floods, and it gives the appearance that the Texas GOP exploited this devastating tragedy to further their own political agenda. The fact that we're talking about widespread redistricting in 2025 is incredibly unusual, given that traditional redistricting only occurs once every decade. Currently, the GOP only holds a razor-thin majority in the House, with Democrats only needing to net three seats for control to flip next year. Texas's redistricting effort came at the behest of President Trump, who wants to maintain the Republican majority by any means necessary. Apparently, the best way to do that isn't by implementing policies that are actually popular and beneficial for the American public, but by rigging maps for political advantage. It's efforts like these that make it hard to have faith in American democracy. It's no longer about the best ideas and policies winning, but who can manipulate systems the best. This apparent race to the bottom is terrible for Americans of all backgrounds. No matter who's doing the gerrymandering, the end result is a specific group (often Black folks, let's be real) getting disenfranchised. SEE ALSO: Texas Dems Fight Redistricting Effort Through Filibusters Critics Call Texas Governor's New Congressional Map Gerrymandering SEE ALSO Texas Creates 5 New House Seats In Areas Trump Won In 2024 was originally published on
