JUST IN: GOP Rep. Betrays Trump With Baffling Push To Stop Texas From Redistricting

On the eve of an audacious plan by Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional districts — possibly assuring the U.S. House GOP another five seats in next year’s election — another Republican lawmaker has struck back with legislation that critics online are calling a betrayal of President Donald Trump.

Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) filed legislation on Monday that, if passed, would prevent all 50 states from redrawing congressional district lines before the 2030 census. The bill comes as Texas Republicans prepare to designate new borders that would create five districts that Trump won by 10 or more points last year.

Kiley said he is seeking to “stop a damaging redistricting war” from kicking off between red and blue states. But critics claim he is only taking up the issue to save his own seat in California.

Citing efforts last year by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to usurp authority from an independent commission, Kiley explained that even his state’s liberal voters disagreed with Newsom when it became clear that he was attempting to eliminate the number of Republican congressmen in California’s federal delegation.

“You have politicians saying ‘oh, we’re going to defeat these people not through having a free and fair election but just by moving some lines around on a map.’ California voters very clearly said that’s not the way it should be done,” Kiley said in a recent interview.

If passed, Kiley’s legislation would prevent Texas Republicans from following through with a commitment to redistrict the state, stripping key House Democrats of their urban voting blocs while pushing others into districts that would force them to compete against one another in next year’s elections.

Asked by a local reporter if Kiley also considers Texas’s effort a “brazen scheme” like he’s termed California’s, the Republican lawmaker challenged Newsom to explain “why two wrongs make a right.”

“I want to be clear: I don’t love what Texas is doing either, although there are some pretty key differences,” he went on, pointing out his state’s existing requirement for an independent commission as well as California’s “political imbalance” that he claimed is more polarizing than party positions in Texas.

WATCH:

Texas Democrats fled their state on Sunday, with most arriving at an undisclosed hotel in the Chicago area as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, provides them cover. In response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vowed to bring all civil, criminal, and political penalties down on state lawmakers who abdicated their duties, going so far as to suggest that some may be extradited as “felons” if they don’t return immediately.

The strategy temporarily delays Texas Republicans the quorum needed to hold a roll call vote on redistricting.