Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that partisan gerrymandering will “lead to more civil tension and possibly more violence in our country,” urging restraint in the ongoing redistricting wars playing out in more than a dozen states.
“I think there is the potential that when people have no representation, that they feel disenfranchised, that it can lead, it might lead to violence in our country,” Paul said in an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Paul’s warning comes as state lawmakers across the country consider redrawing congressional lines at the insistence of President Donald Trump, with Democratic-led states like Virginia and Maryland weighing mid-cycle redistricting to counter GOP gains in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina.
The Kentucky Republican predicted that eliminating minority seats in Congress could lead to voters feeling disenfranchised and empowering them to “resort to other means.”
“I’m concerned if there are no representatives, like no Republican representatives in California or no Democrats in Texas, that it will be so thoroughly one-sided that people will feel like their vote isn’t counting,” Paul said, adding: “It’s a mistake of both parties.”
State legislators in Indiana delivered a brutal blow to Trump’s push to redraw maps in the GOP’s favor ahead of next year’s midterm elections, voting down a new map that would have potentially gerrymandered two additional seats for Republicans despite an immense pressure campaign from the White House and anonymous death threats.
Illinois Democrats, who had promised to respond with a tit-for-tat gerrymander if Indiana Republicans moved forward with the effort, momentarily backed off in the wake of the rebuke, signaling that Indiana’s retreat could lead to a temporary ceasefire in the escalating redistricting wars.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker left the door open for redistricting in his state during an interview with Crooked Media’s Jon Lovett that aired Sunday on “Pod Save America” even though he said he’s “generally opposed” to mid-cycle redistricting.
“I don’t want to change the districting mid-decade in Illinois, but we will if we have to,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to support primary challengers to Indiana Republicans who rebuffed the gerrymandering push, vowing on Thursday to “do everything within my power” to have Indiana Senate Republican leader Rodric Bray and others pushed out of the party for their defiance.
Speaking to host Jacqui Heinrich on “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) called the failure of Indiana’s redistricting effort “a missed opportunity,” adding that “you don’t want to be on the other side of Donald Trump.”
“Those primaries will happen, but it’s not about Donald Trump, it’s about the country. It’s about keeping the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and addressing issues like health care affordability and saving this country from those who want to tear it down,” Banks said.
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