‘Fu** The Rules’: Beto O’Rourke Loses It, Calls For Total Redistricting War

Just hours after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a legal victory against a Beto O’Rourke-led political action committee, the two-time failed statewide candidate called on Democrats to declare all out war in regards to redistricting.

O’Rourke’s activist group, Powered by People, has openly bragged about assisting active Texas Democrats who have fled the state in order to block a number of the Republican majority’s legislative items, including vital aid for flood victims and a vote on a redraw of the state’s congressional maps. The chamber can not vote on the proposed legislation unless two-thirds of the legislature is present.

Powered by People is among the groups funding the absent Democrats. The lawmakers spent several days coordinating with Democrat governors, including J.D. Pritzker of Illinois and Jared Polis of Colorado, to come up with a plan to flee the Lonestar State in order to delay the vote on redistricting.

Many of the lawmakers have been staying in hotels funded by left-wing activist groups. This includes Powered by People, according to a report from ABC News. “Powered by People, a voter registration and mobilization group, has been donating to the Texas House Democratic Caucus — not members directly, or for any line-item expense — to help cover upfront costs for the group, such as lodging and transportation,” a spokesperson for O’Rourke’s group told the outlet.

O’Rourke has also kept regular contact with the absent lawmakers as the standoff unfolds. “We will have the backs of these heroic state lawmakers for as long as it takes to stop Trump’s power grab,” O’Rourke told ABC News.

While speaking at a Powered by People rally in Fort Worth on Saturday, O’Rourke called on Democrat-controlled states to draw out as many Republican-controlled districts as possible in a foul-mouthed tirade.

“We are not going to let him stop us. Are you with me on that? Andele! It also means, as Mark was saying earlier, we don’t await the punch thrown by these would-be fascists to land. We punch first, and we punch harder,” O’Rourke ranted.

“We want California, and New Jersey, and Illinois, and Maryland, and every other state where the Democrats hold the Governor’s Mansion, the Illinois, and Maryland, and every other state where the Democrats hold the Governor’s Mansion, the Assembly, and the State Senate to redraw their congressional districts now, not wait for Texas to move first, to maximize Democratic Party advantage.”

He then reiterated that Democrats should pursue such a strategy at all costs. “Listen, you may say to yourself, well, those aren’t the rules. There are no refs in this game. F**k the rules. We are going to win whatever it takes. We’re going to take this to them in every way that we can.”

O’Rourke’s plan may not be feasible, as many of the aforementioned states have already gerrymandered their respective congressional maps in order to benefit Democrats. In Illinois, House Republican candidates received 46 percent of the vote in 2024, though the party only controls three of 17 seats.

The party also controls zero congressional districts in all of New England despite receiving similar percentages of the vote, while Maryland consistently ranks as one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom did announce Saturday that voters will have the option to vote on potential redistricting this coming November in a move designed to counter Texas’ proposed redraw. Critics have pointed out that California is already heavily gerrymandered in favor of Democrats, however, even more so than the proposed Texas map.

In the 2024 U.S. House elections in California, Republican candidates collectively received more than 40 percent of the popular vote across the state’s 52 congressional districts, according to national vote share data. Despite this, Republicans only control nine of the state’s 52 seats, or just 17 percent of the available seats.

Republican-controlled states hold a far greater advantage in what can be described as an all-out redistricting war, as Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Florida and South Carolina are all discussing the possibility of redistricting, resulting in another dozen or so potential pickups. This does not even factor in a potential Supreme Court ruling on the validity of race-based congressional districts, which could lead to the erasure of several additional Democrat-controlled districts in the south.

O’Rourke may also be personally out of the redistricting fight in the near future, as a  Texas judge on Friday ruled that Powered by People is effectively banned from fundraising for and financially supporting absent Texas Democrats for the foreseeable future.