A group of House Republicans openly questioned the mid-decade redistricting war sparked by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a day after a Democratic victory in Virginia threatened the GOP’s chances of holding onto its slim House majority in November.
The recriminations are not new — plenty of GOP lawmakers had private doubts about Trump’s aggressive push to draw maps in Texas and other red states. But now members are growing increasingly vocal as it appears the tit-for-tat he started could now result in a Democratic advantage.
Tuesday’s vote paves the way for as many as four Virginia Republicans to lose their seats.
Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), recently elected to a junior House Republican leadership post, said “it was a mistake to go down this road.”
“Virginia does not change my opinion — I thought that Texas was a mistake. I thought California was a mistake on the part of the Democrats,” he said. “The problem is, at the end of the day, whatever party wins, we all have to govern. And it’s harder to do when we’ve eroded our constituents’ trust in our democracy and the fairness of our elections — which is what mid-cycle redistricting does.”
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said in an interview he warned the White House months ago the effort could backfire, while Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) suggested the outcome of the nearly yearlong saga should have been utterly predictable.
“Chess players think three to four moves ahead,” he said. “It doesn’t appear this happened.”
Even the man charged with preserving the House GOP majority, NRCC Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), declined to say the redistricting push was worth pursuing.
“It wasn’t my decision,” he told reporters.
Republicans are holding out hope that the state Supreme Court might still invalidate the Virginia vote, which used a ballot initiative to temporarily suspend a constitutional provision handing redistricting powers to an independent commission.
But both parties are now focused on Florida, where GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis appears intent on proceeding with his own redistricting effort in the coming weeks. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Wednesday to take DeSantis and his allies head-on.
“Trump and Republicans launched this gerrymandering war, and we’ve made clear as Democrats that we’re going to finish it,” Jeffries said at a news conference.
House Republicans from the Sunshine State have already griped about pursuing an overly aggressive gerrymander, and several renewed those objections Wednesday.
“I don’t think it matters what the results are,” said one, Rep. Daniel Webster.
Hudson said “it’s not really my role” to tell the state how to proceed and that Florida legislators “have to decide what’s best for Florida.”
But Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday that he would support Florida Republicans pushing ahead, saying they have “the right and the intention to do it, and my view is that they should.”
Earlier Wednesday, the speaker blasted the Virginia effort as “a hyperpartisan gerrymandering boondoggle.”
Rep. John Rutherford, a Jacksonville-area Republican who has previously warned against Florida redistricting, said the Virginia results could force the GOP’s hand.
“I don’t like this redistricting in the middle of the census,” Rutherford said. “But in light of what Virginia is doing, we may need to respond to that.”
Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
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