On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) responded to arguments from Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison (R) that Democratic states, like Illinois, have gerrymandered their maps by saying that what Texas is doing “is not the result of what happened in Illinois at the last Census. What it is is a reaction to Trump’s order,” and “I would like to see nonpartisan citizen commissions all over the country.”
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “Congressman Doggett…does Brian Harrison have a point when he says, well, look at Illinois and their 13th district and how it’s drawn? … [S]aying, this very interestingly-carved district is happening in Illinois, why can’t it happen in Texas?”
Doggett responded, “Well, they had their opportunity to gerrymander however they wanted when the last Census was completed, and they did a pretty good job of protecting all their members, so that out of 38 members in Texas, we didn’t have many seats in which — maybe only one in which we could challenge them. This is not the result of what happened in Illinois at the last Census. What it is is a reaction to Trump’s order, and we applaud what Gov. Newsom (D) is doing. I would like to see nonpartisan citizen commissions all over the country. But it can’t be that you have fairness only in the Democratic states and extreme gerrymandering to serve a president’s interest in states like Texas. And so, the action in California’s important. It’s important to do it in some other states. We cannot turn over this House to more compliant Republicans just because Donald Trump wins the election this year instead of next year.”
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