Exclusive — TX Public Policy Foundation’s Chuck DeVore: America ‘Needs’ Texas to Redistrict

Mid-decade redistricting is not completely unheard of, and the plan would actually create more “majority minority” districts, Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Chuck DeVore said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily, discussing the Lone Star State’s redistricting proposal.

Host Mike Slater asked DeVore to explain what sparked the current call to redistrict in Texas.

“First of all, mid-decade redistricting isn’t completely unheard of,” DeVore made clear, explaining that Pennsylvania did it in 2018.

“When the redistricting was done in 2021, I was a bit disappointed because it was kind of a partisan protection plan. It was a very conservative, as in risk free, low risk conservative redistricting for both the Texas House, the Texas Senate, and Congress,” he said, explaining that they essentially drew the lines to “ensure that incumbents would win elections,” but that meant that there would be very few competitive districts.

“I think the realization was, frankly, that if you look at the stakes nationally, and you look at the U.S. Senate map, it’s probably highly likely the Republicans are going to retain control of the U.S. Senate, looking at where the elections are next year, and then you look at the typical midterm losses for party in power, for the party that has the White House, and you think, my goodness, the entire MAGA agenda could come to a screeching halt after next year’s election, and at the end of the day, redistricting is all about politics and power,” he said, explaining that “if you can, you will” — both Democrats and Republicans.

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“Now Texas, having been free from some of the more onerous dictates from the, for example, the Voting Rights Act and other things for the federal level that you know, every time Texas redistricted, you know, they looked funny, sued. Now that stuff is in the rear view mirror, and so they’re able to redistrict, frankly, almost approaching the way the Democrats do in places like Illinois,” he explained, putting it this way: “They’re doing it because they can, and frankly, because I think America needs Texas to do it, otherwise we’re at risk of the entire Trump agenda coming to a screeching halt after next year’s midterm elections.”

DeVore noted that the proposed map creates “four or five additional majority minority districts” as well.

“These are districts where, for example, today, we don’t have any districts in Texas that blacks are a majority, and this new map would create two going from memory, I think we have two or three districts where Hispanics are a majority,” he said, explaining that this would increase that reality.

“Paradoxically, it also reduces the likely number of Democrats holding seats. So you see here kind of the interesting mathematical equation that you have to go through to, in this case, likely increase Republican representation, and at the same time, increase diversity in the Texas delegation, which ironically, is something you think Democrats would be in favor of,” he added.

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.