Politics
GOP Senator Claims Trump-Backed Redistricting Could Lead To ‘Political Violence’
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who has frequently clashed with President Donald Trump on several policy fronts over the first year of his second term in the White House, claimed that the president’s push for redistricting in Republican-controlled states could lead to “political violence.”
While appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, Paul was asked about the Indiana State Senate’s rejection of a Trump-backed mid-decade redistricting effort that would have netted Republicans two additional seats in next year’s midterms. The move sparked fury among the president’s base, leading organizations like Turning Point USA and Trump family members to promise primary challenges against the Republican lawmakers who voted against the maps.
“On domestic policy and redistricting, President Trump is threatening the primary and all of the Indiana lawmakers who voted against his redistricting plan and the new map that would have benefited Republicans,” host Kristen Welker noted. “Do you support Republicans trying to redraw maps mid-decade?”
The senator responded by claiming that redistricting fuels divides on “both sides” of the political aisle. “Both sides are doing it, and so is one side going to sit quietly and not do it? You can argue who started it. But I do think this, and this is a negative aspect of both parties doing this, I think it will lead to more civil tension and possibly more violence in our country,” he said.
“Because think about it, if 35% of Texas is Democrat, solidly Democrat, and they have zero representation or like my state, we are a very Republican state, we have one Democrat area in Louisville, and we have a Democrat congressman. We could carve up Louisville and get rid of the one congressman, but how does that make Democrats feel? I think it makes them feel like they’re not represented,” Paul continued.
“So, I don’t know, I think it’s bad, but it’s really not one party or the other doing it, it’s both parties doing it since the beginning of time. But in general, when it becomes so extreme, like if California has no Republican representatives after this is done, or has one left, I think that makes people so dissatisfied, they think, well, the electoral process isn’t working anymore, maybe we have to resort to other means. I think it could happen to both sides.”
Welker followed up by asking the senator to clarify whether he was stating that redistricting will lead to political violence. “I am concerned that if there are no representatives, like no Republican representatives in California or no Democrats in Texas, that it would be so thoroughly one-sided that people will feel like their vote isn’t counting. So I think it’s a mistake,” he responded, adding that he does believe the potential for violence is real.
Multiple Republican-controlled states, including Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, moved to draw out Democrat-controlled districts in response to Democrat-led gerrymanders in states they control and census “errors” that largely undercounted red states, thus robbing them of proper congressional representation.
This kicked off a nationwide redistricting war that saw Democrats directly counter it with Proposition 50, a new map in California that will draw out five Republican-controlled seats in order to counteract those drawn out by Texas. Democrats have vowed to retaliate further by drawing out additional Republican-controlled districts in Virginia and also Illinois, which could prove difficult in the latter state due to current district boundaries and sizable Republican vote share.
