Politics has always been a scrappy arena — a relentless power struggle between two major parties, where one side inevitably tries to outmaneuver the other. It’s messy, competitive, and often cutthroat. Yet, for much of American history, most political players managed to operate within the bounds of decency, adhering to a shared sense of civility and fair play.
That balance began to unravel with the arrival of Donald Trump on the political stage — a watershed moment that shook the Democratic Party to its core. Faced with a figure they viewed as uniquely threatening, Democrats abandoned the very norms they once championed. Civility gave way to scorched-earth tactics. The usual limits no longer applied.
Nowhere is this shift more apparent than in the Left’s hysteria over Texas’s redistricting efforts. For years, Democrats have engaged in aggressive gerrymandering in blue states — locking in one-party rule while claiming the moral high ground. But now, as Republicans push back in states such as Texas, the outrage from the Left rings hollow.
After years of panic and partisan redrawing, the Democrats’ cries for “fair maps” are falling on deaf ears. The game has changed — and the memo to Democrats is simple: Hysteria won’t work anymore.
Like a toddler who’s already eaten his dessert but can’t bear to watch his sibling enjoy theirs, Democrats can’t stand the idea that Republicans might now benefit from the same tactics they’ve used for years.
Speaking on Fox News earlier this week, conservative commentator Mark Levin didn’t mince words: while Democrats have “almost nothing left to gerrymander,” he said, “Republicans have room to grow in other states.”
Levin continued, “Republicans would win a gerrymandering war big. Democrats gerrymandered blue states into one-party rule for years, but cry foul the moment Republicans push back. Fair maps shouldn’t mean ‘Dem maps.’ Time to level the playing field.”
He’s not wrong. Democrats have already squeezed most of the juice out of the gerrymandering lemon — and they know it. They also know that a gain of just five Republican House seats could tip the balance in next year’s high-stakes midterm elections. Hence, the hysteria.
On Tuesday, former Attorney General Eric Holder appeared on MSNBC and suggested that Republicans want to retain control of the House so they can potentially refuse to certify the results if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2028.
Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey recently declared, “Donald Trump, [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott, and [Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton have left us with no choice.” In response to Texas’s redistricting plans, Healey now argues that Massachusetts must consider redrawing its own congressional map.
With all nine of the state’s U.S. House seats currently held by Democrats, it remains unclear what changes Healey intends to pursue. Although former Vice President Kamala Harris easily carried the Bay State’s 11 electoral votes last November, Donald Trump still secured a significant 36% of the vote — a figure Democrats may be watching closely as they weigh their next moves.
Perhaps the most vocal Democratic critic has been Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire whose state has welcomed the largest group of Texas Democrats — and who is now vowing retaliation if Texas moves forward with its redistricting plan.
Ironically, Illinois is frequently cited as the most gerrymandered state in the country. Despite Donald Trump winning 45% of the vote in 2024, Republicans hold just three of the state’s 17 congressional seats — a mere 18%.
(Note: Such disproportionate representation exists in many states, including red states.)
The maps below illustrate just how aggressively Democrats have redrawn district lines to their advantage. Pay particular attention to the twisted contours of the 13th District.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to retaliate even though the “California Supreme Court has interpreted the state Constitution to prohibit redrawing congressional districts between the decennial census, a process known as mid-decade redistricting.”
California has 52 congressional districts, with Democrats representing 43 and Republicans holding just 9.
New York follows closely behind. Of the state’s 26 congressional districts, 19 are represented by Democrats in Congress, and 7 by Republicans. It should be noted that Trump won 44% of the vote in the Empire State in November.
The map below of Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District vividly illustrates the extreme lengths to which Democrats were willing to go to maintain a safely blue seat — its notoriously convoluted boundaries have earned comparisons to a “broken-winged pterodactyl lying prostrate across the center of the state” and “blood spatter from a crime scene.”
Democrats currently occupy every congressional seat in Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. The U.S. House seats in Vermont and Delaware, each representing a single at-large district, are both held by Democrats. A handful of blue states, including Maryland, Oregon, and Maine, send just one Republican to Washington. Even in larger Democratic strongholds such as Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Virginia, the GOP remains a small minority, holding only two to five House seats apiece.
Former President Barack Obama, who maybe should have sat this one out, took to X to say, “We can’t lose focus on what matters – right now. Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections.”
“This is a power grab that undermines our democracy,” he added.
But Texas’s Constitution expressly allows mid-decade redistricting. And, opportunistic or not, the state’s population has surged over the past five years as residents have fled blue states for the freedom — and lower taxes — of red states.
WHO WINS AND LOSES IF EVERY STATE GETS ITS WAY ON REDISTRICTING?
Although the standoff continues, eventually the Texas Democrats will be forced to return. And the result of their theatrics will likely be the same as it was when they fled to Washington, D.C., in 2021 over legislation to enact voting restrictions: It will only delay the inevitable.
And they will have shown, once again, that they’re not a serious party.
Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner and the Western Journal. She is also a Heritage Foundation Academy fellow. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.