Gov. Maura Healey mentioned an try by Texas Republicans to redraw native U.S. Home maps to extend the variety of Republicans in Congress is a “partisan, craven political power grab” that impacts individuals in Massachusetts due to the impression it might have on future elections.
Healey took pot pictures at President Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton as she stood alongside a bunch of Democratic lawmakers from the Lone Star State who have been skipping out on their legislative duties to postpone a vote on the maps.
The primary-term Bay State Democrat mentioned residents right here have “seen the impact in Massachusetts of Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid and anti-hunger programs, and the way his tariffs … raised the cost for everyone.”
“What’s happening in Texas matters to the people of Massachusetts, and it matters to people all over this country if we don’t have a fair election system in this country. That impacts, that hurts all Americans,” Healey informed reporters on the State Home Tuesday afternoon.
Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers from Texas have left the state to cities throughout the nation in a ultimate effort to stop Republicans from adopting U.S. Home maps that Trump needs in place earlier than the 2026 midterm elections.
The choice to go away the Lone Star State places Democratic state lawmakers out of attain from Texas legislation enforcement, and permits them to successfully block votes by guaranteeing the 150-member Texas Home doesn’t have a quorum to do its enterprise.
Republicans within the Texas Home didn’t have a required quorum for a scheduled vote on the brand new district maps Monday afternoon, although native representatives in Texas had plans to strive once more Tuesday.
Within the meantime, Abbott and his fellow Republicans have threatened to take away Democrats from workplace, superb the absent lawmakers every day they’re out of the capitol, and even have the legislators arrested if they don’t come again to Austin.
Abbott ordered Texas Division of Public Security troopers to trace down lawmakers and convey them again to the Texas State Home.
Rep. Anna Hernandez, a Democrat who represents elements of Houston, mentioned she is dealing with a $500-a-day superb that won’t be paid “until, if and when we return.”
“That is not what we are concerned about,” Hernandez mentioned. “As we left the state, it was to make sure that our constituents have a voice. Because that’s what this process is doing. It’s silencing our constituents, and we will not stand for it.”
Abbot defended the redistricting plan this week as an effort to redraw traces to raised mirror voters who supported Trump within the 2024 election, when the president simply gained the Lone Star State.
“Gerrymandering can be done, or drawing lines, can be done on the basis of political makeup, as in Republicans versus Democrats. And there’s nothing illegal about that,” Abbott mentioned Monday in an interview with Fox Information. “All of these districts that are being added are districts that were won by Trump.”
However Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, who has helped oversee the redistricting course of within the Bay State for many years, mentioned Trump is “stealing the rights of Massachusetts voters and voters throughout this country.”
“If you’re an American who’s concerned about Congress, you should understand that these votes he’s trying to steal in Texas will come back to hurt us with national legislation that’s going to affect the lives of everybody in this country,” he mentioned.
The U.S Home maps Texas Republicans are attempting to push by would add 5 extra Republican seats in Texas forward of the midterm election, which might assist the social gathering’s probability at preserving its slim majority within the chamber.
Republicans maintain 25 of Texas’ 38 U.S. Home seats.
Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Democrat who represents elements of Houston and surrounding suburbs, mentioned legislators who’ve left Texas are “holding the line on democracy, not just for Texas, but for our nation.”
“This is coming to you. You’re next. This is not a Texas problem. This is a United States of America problem,” Alvarado mentioned on the Massachusetts State Home. “… We have become so accustomed to rolling up our sleeves and fighting because we know that this is not stopping in Texas, this is coming to a state near you.”
Supplies from the Related Press have been used on this report.
