Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., says Republicans' redistricting efforts are an attempt to "rig the election before it starts."
"They're saying the quiet part out loud, and it's not even a whisper. It's with a bullhorn. 'Go get me some additional Republican seats in Texas,'" Padilla told Morning Edition. "It really brings to mind back to after the 2020 election, when Donald Trump called the secretary of state of Georgia and said, 'Go find me 11,000 votes.'"
"They'll do whatever it takes to win. The rule of law be damned," he added.
Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives unveiled a proposed new redistricting map on Wednesday to fulfill Trump's request to add five Republican congressional seats in the state. The redrawing could be key in determining which party controls the U.S. House after next year's midterms.
Redistricting, or redrawing state legislative and congressional district boundaries, usually happens every 10 years following the decennial U.S. Census. But Republicans have explicitly said that they are undertaking a rare mid-decade redistricting for partisan reasons. The Republican Party of Texas stated that the effort is "an essential step to preserving GOP control in Congress." Trump himself said a "very simple redrawing" would pick up five seats for Republicans in Texas.
Padilla says Republicans are redrawing congressional lines ahead of midterms because Trump's agenda is "unpopular and harmful" to Americans.
"Their only hope in holding on to power through the midterms is not to convince the American public on their ideas or accomplishments. It's to rig the election before it starts," he said.
NPR's A Martínez and Padilla discussed why Republicans are scrambling to redistrict ahead of midterms and what Democrats are doing to counter their actions.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
A Martínez: Senator, you're pushing for an investigation into whether White House officials violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from participating in political activity while on duty. Why do you think White House officials may have violated the Hatch Act?
Sen. Alex Padilla: Right. Well, there's so much that's wrong with this effort to get Texas to redistrict and squeeze out some additional Republican seats, because that's what Donald Trump wants. But starting with how they're going about it, Donald Trump calling [for it] from the grounds of the White House and engaging White House officials, top Department of Justice officials, to coordinate with Texas Republican officials in this effort. There's a law on the books known as the Hatch Act, which explicitly prohibits administration officials from engaging in partisan political activity.
Martínez: But not the president. Right? The president doesn't apply to the Hatch Act.
Padilla: It doesn't apply to the president but it applies to everybody around him. And in the past, there have been folks that have gotten into trouble for helping political campaigns through endorsements and fundraising. That's one level. This is a lot more devious. And the president has made it very clear — he's not even trying to hide it — that the purpose for redistricting in Texas is to create additional Republican seats, so that is partisan as it gets.
Martínez: But Democrats have had redistricting efforts in the past. Why is this any different?
Padilla: Well, when you do redistricting, which we are required to do every ten years after the census, there's criteria that goes into how the lines are to be drawn. You can't do it in a discriminatory fashion. That's part of the voting rights and voting rights protections that have existed for decades. Whether Republicans continue to respect those or not, that's one of the things that folks are watching for.
Martínez: In California, Democrats, including reportedly Gov. Gavin Newsom, are pushing to counter the Texas redistricting with their own redrawing of districts. So isn't this all part of this political tit-for-tat that happens all across the country?
Padilla: Well, I think here's where things are: There's a map — a proposed map — that has been released by Texas officials but has not been voted on yet by the legislature. So there's still time for Texas to stand down — which I think is the ideal scenario. But if Texas goes through with it — again, this blatant political power grab — because the stakes are so high … we have to meet fire with fire. But the ideal scenario? Texas stands down and we have a battle of ideas next year at the ballot box.
Martínez: What penalties should happen if indeed it is found that there are violations of the Hatch Act?
Padilla: Well, there's a variety of penalties, depending on how deep or how engaged these top Trump administration officials — and Department of Justice officials, by the way, have been engaged here. So we do have confirmation that the Office of Special Counsel has begun its investigation. We'll wait for the investigation to conclude and provide some recommendations.
Suzanne Nuyen and Kristian Monroe edited the digital version of this piece.
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