On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Texas State. Rep. Linda Garcia (D) argued that Illinois’ gerrymandering is different from Texas because it’s “within their constitution, within their right.”
Guest host Phil Mattingly asked, “One of the things that’s been raised, particularly for you and some of your colleagues that have gone to Illinois, is Illinois isn’t exactly a nonpartisan district-by-district state. It’s quite a gerrymandered state towards the Democratic side, was, just a couple of years ago, signed into law by the current Gov., JB Pritzker (D). How do you respond to people who point that out?”
Garcia responded, “Well, I think that the actions he took are within their constitution, within their right. That is very different from what is taking place in the state of Texas. So, I think we all need to process that and understand the difference. This is illegal.”
She added, “In the state of Texas, our Texas Constitution calls for redistricting every ten years, based on the Census. We are not at the ten-year mark. We are halfway through the ten-year mark. And so, not only are we redistricting from data that is incorrect, but we are also watering down the voices. When President Donald Trump calls for five congressional Republican districts, he is calling for the watered-down voices of marginalized community members in those existing districts. And that is the difference.”
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