August 4, 2025

Texas Republicans continued to march their obscene gerrymander through the legislature they dominate. If enacted, the resulting map will add five more Republican seats to an already severely gerrymandered landscape.

In the 2024 election, Donald Trump won 56% of the total vote in the Lone Star State. Under the current map — enacted by Republicans in 2021 — they control two-thirds of the 38 seats. Under the revised version, they would hold nearly 80%.

This is only the beginning. Republicans are already talking openly about taking the Texas playbook to other states under their control.

Take Florida, for example. Due to gerrymandering, Republicans currently control 20 of 28 seats — 71% — in a state Donald Trump carried with just 56% of the vote. They achieved this despite a state constitutional provision prohibiting partisan gerrymandering. Yet even that may not be enough for Florida Republicans, who are already discussing further manipulating the map in their favor.

In an article in The New York Times this weekend, someone in Trump’s orbit described their plan as: “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.” As the authors noted, this strategy extends far beyond redistricting. It is the GOP’s approach to the rule of law, large institutions, the media and their political opponents.

For example, this weekend we learned that the Trump administration is opening an investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith for allegedly violating the Hatch Act’s prohibition on engaging in partisan political activity. Smith, of course, did nothing of the sort.

On Saturday, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed a slate of new voter suppression measures into law — including one that will make it more burdensome to cast a ballot by mail. When it comes to voting rights, there are no moderates in the GOP. Election denialism and voter suppression are now prerequisites for being in good standing within the party.

And, of course, before the Senate GOP abruptly left for their summer recess, they...

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