Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas claimed Monday that Democratic-controlled states practiced “nonpartisan” redistricting that was “fair” during a CNN appearance, ignoring gerrymandered maps in some of those states.
The Texas Legislature approved new congressional district maps after Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives ended their “quorum break” on Aug. 18. Doggett fretted about the impacts of the Supreme Court’s potential ruling in a redistricting case from Louisiana, saying that it would make maps in Republican states even less fair and would force Democrats to dispense with allegedly “nonpartisan” approaches.
“What it will devastate is the ability of people from all communities to be heard at every level of government,” Doggett claimed. “I think the ramifications will be far more severe for a local school board, a city council, a county government, but yes, it could have an impact on Democrats in Congress as well.” (RELATED: Eric Holder Says Democrats Should Make Packing And Rigging Supreme Court Part Of 2028 Platform)
“That’s why it’s so important that the California referendum that’s coming up in a couple weeks be approved and that everyone continue to resist the Trump efforts to do elsewhere what he did in Texas,” Doggett continued. “I hope that our court will invalidate those maps and I’ll be able to continue to serve, but the most important thing is that our democracy continue to serve all communities and this court decision could really be a setback.”
Doggett held out hope that Democrats could win some of the newly-drawn districts, but said he would retire if the maps were upheld.
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“I would like to see every state in the country — and I’ve supported this with legislation — have nonpartisan redistricting, but it can’t be that the nonpartisan fair redistricting only occurs in Democratic states and is ignored with extreme gerrymandering as happened here in Texas,” Doggett claimed. “When Trump said he wanted five more Republicans, the Texas Republicans said, how quickly can we get them to you? I still think we can win some of those seats that they drew narrowly, but we’ve got to put a maximum effort out.”
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said in an August “Face the Nation” appearance that Democrats in Maryland may attempt to redraw district lines to force out Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation. While Democrats won seven of the eight seats in the United States House of Representatives in the 2024 election, according to Ballotpedia, President Donald Trump secured 34.1% of the vote and former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, the GOP’s nominee for the Senate seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, received 42.8% of the vote.
The map Illinois enacted before the 2022 midterm elections eliminated two Republican seats. The blue state, which lost a U.S. House seat in the 2020 census, went from 13 Democrats and five Republicans following the 2020 election to 14 Democrats and three Republicans in the state’s House of Representatives delegation after the 2022 midterms, according to Ballotpedia.
Despite Republicans Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker winning gubernatorial elections and Scott Brown winning a special election in Massachusetts since 2000, no Republican has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996, when then-Republican Reps. Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen lost reelection bids, according to Ballotpedia. (RELATED: JB Pritzker Ducks Question When Pressed On Illinois Gerrymandering Hypocrisy)
New York redrew its congressional districts after the 2022 midterm elections, creating a map that endangered as many as six out of the 11 Republicans initially elected to the state’s House delegation. Democrats had 19 seats to seven for Republicans when the votes were tallied after the 2024 election, a significant gain from the 15 seats they had after the 2022 midterm elections, according to Ballotpedia.
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