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Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) slammed Republican lawmakers as "cheaters" amid their mid-decade redistricting push.
During a Tuesday (August 19) appearance on CNN's "The Source," Crockett called out Republicans over their attempt to manipulate political maps for power. Texas GOP lawmakers are aiming to pass a new congressional map that could give Republicans five additional House seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“The Republicans, they are cheaters all day, every day. But we have never tried to match their energy until now. And I applaud it,” Crockett said Tuesday.
The Texas congresswoman went on to praise Democratic efforts in California to retaliate with their own redistricting plan.
“This is a dangerous road to travel down, and I do applaud those in California that say, if you want to play with us, we will play back," Crockett said. “You can stop this right now if you just say, hey we will stop in Texas, because California doesn’t go into play unless Texas does."
Dozens of Texas Democrats left the state earlier this month to break quorum and block the GOP redistricting plan. Upon their return on Monday (August 18), Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows required Democratic lawmakers to sign a “permission slip” agreeing to 24-hour police escorts to ensure their attendance during future redistricting votes.
Crockett argued that Republicans have a consistent pattern of weaponizing redistricting.
“If you will recall, when we look at North Carolina, as soon as they ended up with a Republican majority in that Supreme Court, what did they do? They decided to take their map from seven… and instead they added an additional three seats for the Republicans,” she said. “So now it’s 10-4. Well, when you look at the voting, nothing looks like 10-4.”
The congresswoman also condemned new rules requiring Democratic lawmakers to accept DPS escorts to leave the chamber.
“As a former Texas State Rep, let me be clear: LOCKING Rep. Nicole Collier inside the chamber is beyond outrageous,” Crockett wrote Monday on X. “Forcing elected officials to sign ‘permission slips’ and take police escorts to leave? That’s not procedure. That’s some old Jim Crow playbook.”
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