Former Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke joins Jake to discuss the GOP’s controversial push to redraw its congressional map to help Republicans.

Washington

Former Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke has advocated for Democrats to take a more assertive approach in response to Republican-led redistricting in Texas and other states. He argues that Republicans are using redistricting to maintain political power and that Democrats should consider similar strategies in states where they hold legislative control.

O’Rourke acknowledges the criticism that such tactics may appear inconsistent with calls to end gerrymandering but insists that regaining power is necessary to enact broader democratic reforms. He also highlights ongoing efforts to register voters and organize at the grassroots level, expressing optimism about Democratic prospects in future elections.

Beto O’Rourke: Democrats should ‘match fire with fire’

now former Democratic Texas Congressman and 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke. Thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it. So the Texas legislature run by Republicans, their special session begins tomorrow. Democrats say they're going to use whatever means necessary they can to block this redistricting effort. But Democrats are in the minority, as you know. Realistically, what are the Democratic options to block this? First, just in case folks don't know what redistricting is, that's the process by which members of Congress choose their own voters. Typically that happens after the passage of the decade, the new census. It is very rare to happen in the middle of the decade. Why are they doing this? Donald Trump's policies, whether it's the big, beautiful bill that's going to take nearly two million Texans off of Medicaid or transfer nearly a trillion dollars of wealth to the richest 1% at the expense of working families, his policies are deeply unpopular. He doesn't want to face accountability from the voters, and he's worried about keeping his very slim majority in Congress. So he's trying to pick up five seats through this redistricting process in Texas. Now to your question about how we fight back, there are a number of things that we can do. One, the Democratic state legislators can deny their Republican colleagues a quorum to be able to move forward on this. We've seen this before with legislators leaving the state and that sort of thing. Absolutely, and I think they at least have to try this, and all of us wherever you live have to get behind them because if we fail to support them right now, it's not just going to hurt the people of Texas, it's going to hurt people all over this country. But there's more that we can do. Governor Gavin Newsom in California has talked about a redistricting in his state. I think it's time that we match fire with fire. I think Democrats in the past too often have been more concerned with being right than being in power, and we've seen that Republicans only care about being in power regardless of what is right. So you support the Newsom effort because California right now has an independent commission that does districts in as fair a way as possible, in non-partisan way as possible. You're saying Democrats should, even though you don't approve of it, Democrats should do it too. We have to get serious. We have to be absolutely ruthless about getting back in power. So yes, in California, in Illinois, in New York, wherever we have the trifecta of power, we have to use that to its absolute extent. And then the last thing, this may end up biting Republicans in the ass. You have the possibility that they will disperse Republican voters to make up these three or four or five new congressional districts and put those districts in play. So in Texas, we've got to get out there and register and meet the voters who are going to decide the outcomes in these next elections if they're successful with this redistricting. Our group, Powered by People, is doing this right now on the ground. We can't wait for 2026. We've got to do the work right now in 2025. So House Democrats are exploring doing this in other blue states, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington. It's already done quite a bit in Illinois, and there's some examples of it, of Democrats taking advantage of it in Nevada. But you were in North Carolina this week, and you told voters there that they need to end the process of gerrymandering. Doesn't it sound like, it sounds like you're saying that they should end the process in a Republican state or a Republican-leaning state, but do it in a Democratic state? I mean, shouldn't there be like a consistent point of view here? It's confusing, isn't it? You heard Democrats in 2024 often talk about saving democracy. People in America didn't understand what they were talking about because we really don't live in a democracy right now. When one person can spend nearly $300 million to elect their preferred candidate for president, that is not a democracy. When members of Congress can choose their own voters, that is not a democracy. When Texas makes it nearly impossible for millions to cast a ballot, that is not a democracy. So the first order of business is winning political power, and then, yes, Jake, we've got to get big money out of politics. We've got to get politicians out of the process of redistricting. We have to pass a John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and we've got to make sure that we overturn decisions like Citizens United that equate corporations with people and money with speech. That will produce a real democracy, but until we are there, we have to use every lever of power that we have right now to our advantage to make sure that we're in office because no one wants members of Congress choosing their own voters, but we have no ability to change that until we start winning some elections. Well, you say it sounds confusing, but others might say it's hypocritical that you're saying this is a horrible thing, and it's members of Congress choosing their voters instead of the other way around, and now Democrats need to embrace it. You know, I think that Democrats have been so scared of being branded as hypocrites or coloring outside the lines that it has absolutely paralyzed them in this struggle for power in America. You don't see the other side worrying about any of that at all. Donald Trump defying the Constitution, the rule of law, the courts, trying to dismantle our very democracy in front of our eyes right now where we sit. We have got to fight back. We cannot roll over. We cannot play dead. We cannot submit to them as Democrats for far too long have done. We've got to fight back with everything that we've got by every single means necessary. If we don't do that, Jake, we are going to lose this country, and the people that we serve, that we represent, that we want to fight for, they're going to be hurt even more than they are right now. Very quickly, if you would, there's obviously a Senate race coming up in Texas. John Cornyn, the incumbent Republican Senator, facing a challenge inside his own party from Paxson, the controversial Attorney General, and Democrats obviously are going to be running as a candidate as well. I know that you have been in a conference call with other potential Democratic candidates. Are you going to run for that seat? I don't know. Right now, I'm holding these town halls all over the state of Texas, across the country, to listen to people, to bring them together, and to channel our anger into action, registering people to vote, organizing with voters right now. But I'm very optimistic about Democrats' opportunity in 2026. In Trump's last midterm in 2018, when I was running against Ted Cruz, not only did we come close to defeating the sitting Senator, but 12 insurgent Democrats defeated 12 incumbent Republicans in the State House. Colin Allred, Lizzie Panel-Fletcher defeated entrenched, well-funded Republicans. You had 17 Black women win judicial positions in Harris County, in Houston, Texas. It was transformational for the state of Texas. There will be a price for this extremism from Donald Trump, from the people that he's hurting across the country right now, and I think we'll see that play out in 2026. All right. Beto O'Rourke, former Congressman from Texas, Democrat, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you.

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