Snapshot: Democratic Governors Fight Back

The Texas plot to increase Republican totals in Congress is activating Democratic leaders in three of America's largest states

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker surrounded by Texas Democrats yesterday. (Photo by Scott Olson via Getty Images)

Maybe you’ve wondered when—or if—the Democrats would fight harder. Whether they would recognize that they can’t play by the old rules with Republicans who will do anything to get and keep power.

Well, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has succeeded in activating Democrats. This is the result of his kowtowing effort to appease the demands of Donald Trump and manipulate the midterms for Republicans by gerrymandering five congressional districts in Texas that will disenfranchise Black and Latino voters. Just yesterday, Trump pronounced that Republicans are “entitled” to five more seats in Texas.

To slow down or stop this hostile redistricting, more than 50 Texas Democrats have left the state to deny the Texas legislature the quorum it needs to advance their plot. They have firmly grasped what’s at stake for democracy when a party cannot win elections by traditional means—you know, have policies that voters actually support.

But I’m especially happy to see a new level of fight among Democratic governors, particularly California’s Gavin Newsom, New York’s Kathy Hochul and Illinois’ JB Pritzker. Listen to their responses to Texas gerrymandering before the midterms, an election in which Democrats can take over the majority by winning just three more seats.

Governor Newsom:

“Would the state of California move forward in kind? Fighting? Yes, fire with fire," Gov. Newsom said Monday. He has threatened to hold a special election in November to redraw California’s congressional maps and likely expand the number of Democratic seats by five. Democrats currently hold 43 of the state’s 52 seats.

"They’ve triggered this response and we’re not going to roll over and we’re going to fight fire with fire,” Newsom continued. “But we’re going to do so not just punching with the weight of the fourth largest economy, the most populous state in our union, the size of 21 state populations combined…We also will punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we’re doing, and I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California and they will pay that price."

Governor Hochul:

“I’m tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back,” Gov. Hochul told reporters Monday. “With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process.”

Her redistricting effort could increase the number of Congressional Democrats by three. Democrats won 19 of the state’s 26 seats last year.

“We’re sick and tired of being pushed around when other states don’t have the same aspirations that we always have,” Hochul said, referring to independent redistricting. “And I hold those dear. But I cannot ignore that the playing field has changed dramatically, and shame on us if we ignore that fact and cling tight to the vestiges of the past. That era is over—Donald Trump eliminated it forever.”

JB Pritzker:

"Donald Trump is a cheater... and if they're going to cheat, then all of us have to take a hard look at what the effect of that cheating is on democracy, and that means we've all got to stand up and do the right thing," Pritzker said yesterday, adding, “So far as I’m concerned, everything is on the table.”

Pritzker was flanked by a number of Texas Democrats who were invited to Illinois to wait out the Texas legislature’s vote, despite threats by Gov. Abbott to have them arrested and fined $500 a day. “Texas House Democrats are demonstrating what it means to fight for the preservation of our constitutional republic,” Pritzker said, noting that Trump’s Republicans are “afraid” they’ll lose their majority in the midterms. “They've decided that the only way to save themselves is to cheat, to change the rules in the middle of the game.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin was also at this press conference, taking the mic after Pritzker. "Our constitution is under assault. Voting rights are being completely violated," Martin said. "Now is not the time for one party to play by the rules while the other party has completely ignored it."

Pritzker summarized what this moment demands of elected officials—and all of us. “To be in public office right now is to constantly ask yourself, ‘How do I make sure that we're standing on the right side of history?’ Well, there's a simple answer. The wrong side of history will always tell you to be afraid. And the right side of history will always expect you to be courageous.”

By bowing to Trump once again, Texas has activated a fight with national implications. That means Democrats must refuse to sit by with noble intentions while Republicans exploit their power and disenfranchise voters.

Now we should expect Democrats to get down in the trenches and fight back. Nothing less than the survival of our republic from a tyrannical, anti-democratic regime is at stake.

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