On Thursday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) argued that redistricting by Democrats that was favorable to them in states like Illinois, Oregon, and New Mexico is different from what Republicans are doing with redistricting in Texas because “there [are] criteria that goes into how the lines are to be drawn. You can’t do it in a discriminatory fashion.” And stated “folks are watching for” if Republicans will follow voting rights protections.
Co-host A Martínez asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:10] “But Democrats had redistricting efforts in the past, Illinois, Oregon, New Mexico, in recent years, to their advantage. Why is this any different?”
Padilla responded, “Well, it’s — when you do redistricting, which we’re required to do every ten years after the Census, there [are] criteria that goes into how the lines are to be drawn. You can’t do it in a discriminatory fashion. That’s part of voting rights and voting rights protections that have existed for decades. Whether Republicans continue to respect those or not, that’s one of the things that folks are watching for.”
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