On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” host and CNN Chief National Correspondent John King stated that it’s illogical for President Donald Trump to argue GOP representation in the Massachusetts congressional delegation should be proportionate to the share of the vote received by Republicans.
While speaking with Texas State House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu (D), King said, “President Trump today said he’s entitled, entitled is the word he used, to five more seats out of Texas, but he also said something else today. He was talking about election results in Massachusetts, Massachusetts, a very blue state. But listen to what the President said in the context of House seats.”
He then played video of Trump saying, “I got 40% in Massachusetts, and yet, they have 100% of the vote in terms of Congress. So, there’s no Republican, there’s no anything. So, we should have 40%. You know why? They redistricted.”
King then stated, “So, you know this is not the way it works. But I want to apply the President’s math, the President’s ‘logic’ in air quotes to Texas. The President actually got 36% in Massachusetts, right? So, let’s assume, if you accepted his logic, he gets 36% of the congressional seats, the House seats from Massachusetts. Well, if we applied that to Texas, Kamala Harris got 42% of the vote. Right now, it’s 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and one vacancy out of Texas. If you applied Trump’s math, the Democrats would get 16 seats. So, if Gov. Abbott (R) said, I agree with President Trump, I will give you the — I’ll give Democrats the proportion of House seats in Texas to Kamala Harris’ votes so you would get 16, I assume you’d saddle up and go home in the morning.”
Wu responded, “Look, this is not about my seat. It’s not about any member’s seat. It’s not about Democrats versus Republicans. This is about our communities. And what’s important about what they’re doing, the thing that brings us into this fight is not about the seats, the thing that brings us into this fight [is] about those communities. Those communities may not vote for us, even. But, over time, those communities have built up power. They’ve built up their voice. They are able to defend themselves now. And now that they’re able to stand up for themselves, Donald Trump looks to steal their power, steal their voice away from them. That’s what’s the problem, not how many each party gets. It’s about those communities.”
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