August 13, 2025 • 33 mins
-
Texas Democrats' Return
- Fled to avoid redistricting legislation.
- Faced legal pressure: potential arrest, fines, and threats of office vacancy.
- Ultimately returned, allowing the redistricting bill to proceed.
-
Redistricting & Gerrymandering
- Cruz and Ferguson claim Democratic states like California, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts are far more aggressive in gerrymandering than Republican states.
- They cite statistics showing disproportionate representation in Congress compared to actual vote percentages.
-
Historical Context
- Cruz recounts his experience as Texas Solicitor General during a similar 2003 redistricting standoff.
- Legal precedent allows for forcible return of lawmakers to establish quorum.
-
Criticism of Democratic Leaders
- Governors of Democrat-led states are accused of hypocrisy for criticizing Texas while benefiting from gerrymandered maps.
- Audio clips and quotes from figures like Governor Pritzker (IL) and Governor Hochul (NY) are used to highlight perceived contradictions.
-
Beto O’Rourke’s Remarks
- A clip of Beto O’Rourke is played where he advocates for aggressive Democratic redistricting, which Cruz interprets as a call for partisan power grabs.
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Broader Political Commentary
- The hosts argue that Democrats are losing favor nationally due to unpopular policies and power-driven tactics.
- They cite polling data showing low favorability for the Democratic Party.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in as Vertical Center. Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you,
and we get to start with some pretty big breaking news.
The Texas Democratic fugitives. They've conceded. They are apparently going
to return to Austin as the latest report center. This
is certainly going to be tears to many liberals that
were cheering them on in sanctuary states. Now they're going
(00:23):
to actually have to go back to work.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, this is news that broke this evening. The Texas
Democrats who had fled the state the House Democrats defeat
a quorum in order to stop the redistricting in the
state of Texas. They've surrendered, They've admitted defeat. They've announced
that they are coming back. We're going to break that down.
We're going to tell you why they're coming back. We're
going to tell you about what legal authorities the governor
and the Speaker of the House had and used to
(00:47):
force them to come back. And we're also going to
talk more broadly about the issue of jerry mandering because
we have seen in the last two weeks, we have
seen democrats, we have seen blue state governors, we have
seen the media clutching their pearls saying this is horrible,
this is a theft of democracy, and I got to
say in the Annals of Hypocrisy, the democrats reaction to
(01:10):
Texas's redistricting may be at the top of the list
of utter complete nonsense and hypocrisy. We're gonna give you
the facts of what exactly Democrat states do when they
draw congressional redistricts and compare it to Republican states and
spoiler alerts, the Democrat states are much much, much more
(01:33):
egregious in gerrymandering their states than Republican states ever are.
We're gonna give you the facts so that when you're
standing around the water cooler, you're gonna know the response
to someone who decides to do some pearl clutching on
their own.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, no doubt. It's really fun when you see the data.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
They may have wished they didn't go down This road
in Texas is going to have a big impact around
the country.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Let me tell you real quick about it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
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your first order. All right, So this has become like
a rallying cry center around the country. Democrats are like,
they're jerrymandering down there in Texas. You even have Gavin
Newsom getting in on this. He sends a letter to
(03:45):
the Presidence like, well, if you guys don't stop what
they're doing there, then we may have to jerrymandering in
California and get those seats back that you steal from Democrats.
News Alert they've been doing this for decades in California.
That kind of I fired on in pretty quickly. But
now the Democrats are coming home.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well they are, and that's the breaking news this evening.
So I'm reading from one news story here in Texas.
ABC thirteen is confirmed with multiple sources that House Democrats
will return to Texas. Eyewitness News has not confirmed the date,
but we do know that the Democrats believe they've accomplished
their mission by killing the first special session and raising
national awareness about the mid decade redistricting effort. It is
(04:26):
unclear which day they will be in Austin at the Capitol,
but they stress that they will push for Hill Country
flooding relief to be the priority. After our initial reporting
online and on television, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic
Caucus set the following statement to ABC News quote, members
are still assessing their strategies going forward and are in
private meeting to make decisions about future plans. Currently, if
(04:49):
and when the Texas House Democrats breaking quorum decide to
go home is squarely dependent upon the actions of the governor,
Speaker and Texas Republicans in charge make with regard to
prioritizing flood victims over redistricting.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
That hurts Texans.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that's their talking point, but the ultimate bottom line
is they've announced they're coming back.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Now, why are they coming back? They're coming back.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Number one because the governor and the Speaker of the
House is issued in order to arrest them, to bring
them back forcibly and arrest them.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Number two, the.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Speaker of the House has the authority to find them
five hundred dollars a day for every day they are
absent and break quorum.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
They change the rules in the hent in the House.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And by the way, that five hundred dollars cannot be
paid from campaign funds. You can't raise money for it.
It's five hundred dollars out of your personal pocket if
you refuse to show up.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It's amazing how that changes everything for the Democrats. So
hold on a second. We can't can't talk about her money.
What money, What do you mean money?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And number three, and the Governor is proceeding in front
of the Texas Supreme Court to seek to declare those
offices vacant and remove them from office. And so they
were facing a legal barrage and they knuckled under it.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
They were engaged in.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
That, they were engaged in a lot of smoke and
mirrors and show they were throwing a hissy fit. But
at the end of the day, Ben mark myert words.
The result, Texas will pass this redistricting bill, and the
consequence of it is going to be five additional Republicans
elected to Congress from the state of Texas. That is
(06:30):
going to happen, and the Democrats, they may decide to
play out and to have their righteous anger while they
rush off to their comrades to say, we think it
is terrible when Republicans are elected, but they will lose
because they don't have the leverage. And I'll tell you, Ben,
that this is actually a topic that I've got some
personal experience in.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
You've dealt with this before, literally in your own life.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Well, So, in two thousand and two, Greg Abbott was
elected the Attorney General of Texas. He'd been on the
Texas Supreme Court, he was elected AG. When he was
elected AG, he interviewed this this young kid lawyer to
be Solicitor General. And Okay, I'm actually going to take
(07:16):
a break. Have I ever told you the story of
how I got the job of SG.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Okay, So I'm in DC. I'm working in the George W.
Bush administration. I'm the head of policy at the Federal
Trade Commission and a buddy of mine calls and says, hey,
Greg Abbott was just elected AG. And I said, well, yeah,
I knew that I wasn't a complete idiot. And he said, well,
he's looking for an SG. Are you willing to have
(07:42):
your name considered? And I said, well, let me think
about it. Let me talk with Heidi, and I'll call
you back tomorrow and let you know. And I talked
with Heidi. I said, what do you think? She said,
absolutely yes, put your name in. I think that's great.
So I pulled together a resume, I sent it down,
and a day or two later I got a call
asking me to come down to all interview.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
So I did. I went down and interviewed.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Now I didn't know Greg Abbott at all, and I
frankly assumed I'd never get the job. That he would
hire someone who'd known twenty years. That's kind of the
way of the world. He'd hire a buddy of his,
another lawyer.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
He knew baseball in politics, right, you go with someone
you're familiar with.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So I went down there. Now, I'm thirty one years old,
I'm a kid. I do the interview. I don't know
him at all, and a couple days later, I'm actually
out with Heidi. We're in California at her parents' house
and it's about six in the morning where but we're
both asleep in bed and my cell phone rings. I
(08:39):
answer it and it's Greg Abbott and he's calling to
offer me the job of SG and I was I
was floored. But I got to tell you, Heidi almost
fell out of bed. She was so shocked, and she
told me she said, well, look, I told you to
interview because I knew there was no chance you could
(08:59):
get the job. I knew it was absolutely hopeless. And
I actually almost didn't get the job. Abbott told me
later that he almost didn't make me the offer because
he didn't think I had the wine, because he didn't
think I had the experience to be a very good
oral advocate.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
At the time, you didn't put debate champ on your resume.
I'm a little disappointed in you. There.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well it was there, But at the time I had
only argued two cases in my life, so I was
thirty one. Now I won both of them. The two
cases i'd argue I'd won. One was a Court of
Appeals case in private practice, and the other was in
a federal district court in New York on behalf of
the FTC. Now, I will say, in the case in
(09:44):
New York on the other side was the head of
litigation at Crevass, Swain and Moore, which is one of
the top law firms in the country. And I took
him on and beat him in court. And so those
two arguments, I leaned in hard and said, look, I've
done two arguments. I'm two and oh. They were both
hard cases. They mattered and somehow. You know, if you
ever saw the movie Job, if you ever saw the
(10:05):
movie Chicago with Richard Gear where they go and now
a tap dance.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
So I get the job. I head back to Texas.
I'm in Austin.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Spring of two thousand and three, the Texas House, for
the first time in decades becomes Republican, and so the
Texas House begins to do mid decade redistricting. Now what
is mid decade redistricting. Ordinarily, redistricting happens right after the
turn of the decade. So if you get a new
(10:39):
new decade, you get a new census, and with a
new census, you do redistricting with the new numbers that
have come out from the census. That's how it ordinarily happens. Well,
back in two thousand and one, Texas had done redistricting,
but the Democrats controlled the House, and so Texas had
the most egregious partisan jerymander in the country because even
(11:02):
though Texas was voting overwhelmingly Republican on the statewide level,
Texas was electing a majority of Democrats to the congressional delegation.
The Texas Democrats had drawn a map to elect the
opposite congressional delegation from the way the state was voting,
and it was the nastiest partisan gerrymander in the country
(11:24):
by the Texas Democrats. That's what they'd done. So in
two thousand and three, when Republicans took the House, they decided, Okay,
we're going to do redistricting so that we can draw
a map that alects a congressional delegation that reflects the
values of the voters of Texas. So they did so,
and the Texas Democrats in two thousand and three did
(11:44):
exactly what the Texas Democrats did in twenty twenty five,
which is they fled. They said, run away, run away,
And so the House Democrats they went north to Ardmore,
Oklahoma state, a little holiday inn just over over the
Red River, and that the Senate Democrats they went to
New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a fancy, a very
(12:06):
fancy hotel. And I thought it was really funny that
the senators, the Democrats senators were going to a shishi hotel,
and that the House members were at a holiday inn
in Oklahoma. But so one of the first things that
happened is is that the Speaker of the House, Tom Cratick,
a great guy, picks up the phone and he calls
(12:27):
Greg Abbott, the brand new Attorney General, and he says, General,
can I arrest the fleeing House Democrats? And Abbot said,
I don't know. He said, let me let you let
me figure it out. So Abbot picks up the phone.
He calls me, I'm brand new in my job as SG.
He goes ted. The Speaker wants to know can he
arrest the fleeing Democrats who are fleeing the state. I said, General,
(12:51):
I don't know, let me research it. I'll give you
an answer. So I sat down, I did the legal research.
It turns out the answer is unequivocally yes, and The
reason is the Texas Constitution has a provision in it
that is copied word for word from the United States Constitution,
and the US Constitution has a provision that gives both
(13:13):
Houses of Congress the power to forcibly compel the attendance
of absent members so that members do not have the
right to defy a quorum. And in fact, multiple times
that has been used carrying House members or senators into
the chambers in lake irons in handcuffs. And so I
(13:34):
came back and said, the answer is unequivocally yes, you
can arrest them. Now became a little bit complicated when
they crossed state lines because crossing state lines, particularly going
into states with Democrat administrations, it is possible that if
Texas DPS troopers showed up there, that those states could
try to prosecute the officers for kidnapping. That was a
(13:57):
possibility if the governor or the local des decided to
be belligerent, you could get into uncharted legal territory.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
And so the safe.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Fanti is that why, by the way, Democrats have all
picked these liberal cities like Illinois, where the governor says
we're going to back you, We've got you come here,
you'll be safe.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
We won't let them arrest you.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It is more complicated to do it in a liberal
jurisdiction if you have someone who is partisan and politically motivated.
What is unambiguously clear is that when the Texas Democrats
are back in Texas, you can arrest them and you
can forcibly produce their bodies on the floor to get
a quorum. So this will end, they will lose, and
(14:40):
the Texas Legislature will pass this redistrict.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
By the way, if you are arrested and taking to
the four the way that you were described, I think
a lot of people just want to know this around
the country. You can be there like not wanting to
be there. Right, they can drag your butt literally into
the chamber and you're counted there as a human being
that's a member of the legislature. And that's how you
get to a quorum. It's not forcing you to vote, right,
it's just that your present.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Correct And it can be literally with handcuffs and leg irons.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
I mean it now.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's not being arrested for a crime. You're not going
to jail. It is the authority to physically force your
presence in the room because the reason they're fleeing is
is the requirement that there be a quorum. The legislature
cannot do business if they're not sufficient members there for
a quorum. And that's why both the United States Constitution
(15:32):
and the Texas Constitution give the authority to physically compel presence,
because no individual member has a right to prevent the
body from being able to legislate from being able to
do it. Its fundamental constitutional responsibility.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So they're back now, and this has actually brought up,
I think a bigger issue and I want to take
the time. I actually think this may be one of
the biggest backfires in political modern history, in my opinion
on an issue of jerryman A lot of people I
don't think understood just how much abuse of power with
(16:08):
Democrats in charge in different states with jerrymandering, and how
many Conservatives were so underrepresented in Congress. A great example
of that is California. There are several other states that
have like zero representation of Conservatives of Republican members of
Congress because the way they've drawn the district lines to
make sure that it's almost all Democrats all the time.
(16:31):
And a lot of people did not know how much
abuse there was, how much jerry mannering was happening all
over the country in Democratic states until the big Texas
issue happened. I think this could be a backfire for Democrats.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Look, just about every big Democrat state has gerrymandered the
hell out of their map and is frustrating the will
of their voters in their states. So let me give
you some specific examples. California, biggest Democrats state in the country.
In twenty twenty four, or fifty eight percent of Californians
voted Democrat. Thirty eight percent voted Republicans. So fifty eight
(17:05):
percent Democrat. They have a total of fifty two congressional seats.
Of those fifty two, forty three of them are Democrat,
nine are Republican. What does that mean. It means the
Democrats win fifty eight percent of the vote in California
and they get wait for it, eighty three percent of
(17:26):
the congressional delegation.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
That's what they Democrat there.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So the thirty eight percent of Californians that vote Republican
get a total of seventeen percent of the congressional delegation.
They're basically shut out. How about New York New York.
Fifty six percent of New Yorkers vote Democrat, forty three
percent vote Republican. There are twenty six congressional seats in
(17:52):
New York. Nineteen of them are Democrats, seven are Republican.
What does that mean. It means Democrats get fifty six
percent of the vote statewide in New York. Can they
get wait for it, seventy three percent of the statewide
congressional delegation. How about Illinois? All right, Illinois is really
egregious Illinois. Fifty four percent of people in Illinois vote Democrat.
(18:16):
It's not that huge margin. Forty four percent, forty three,
forty three percent vote Republican. There are seventeen congressional seats
from Illinois, fourteen of them are Democrat, only three are Republicans.
So here are the numbers. Democrats in Illinois get fifty
(18:38):
four percent of the vote and they get eighty two
percent of the congressional delegation.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And so the governor, I'm sure, was like, come on down, Texas,
we'll keep you safe.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Here.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
We're experts in this, we know exactly what we're doing
with this.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And by the way, some of the smaller Democrat states
are even more egregious. So, for example, Connecticut, Trump won
forty two percent of Connecticut. You know how many Republican
House members there are in Connecticut.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I'm going to guess zero to one zero there there
you go.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Democrats have one hundred percent. New Mexico. Trump won forty
six percent in New Mexico. You know how many Republicans
are elected in New Mexico to Congress?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Is it zero? Again?
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Zero? Wow? Three Democrats? Zero Republicans.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
But by the way, is that not the actual definition
of Jerry mannering when you have forty seven percent or
forty three percent going for a party and they get
zero representation in Congress?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Maryland, Maryland, Trump won thirty four percent of the vote
in the state. And you know how many Republicans they
have in their delegation.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
One one is the only one.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And by the way, you know what their Democrat governor.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Is saying, what Texas is terrible.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
If Texas does this, we'll get rid of the only
Republican we elect, will take it to zero. We want
it to be one hundred percent. New Jersey, New Jersey,
Trump won six percent of New Jersey, their twelve congressional
seats Republicans have three of them.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Incredible Oregon.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Trump won forty one percent of the vote in Oregon.
Republicans have one out of the six seats. And here's
the one I love. Massachusetts. Yeah, the People's Republican Massachusetts.
Trump won thirty six percent of Massachusetts in twenty twenty four.
(20:38):
They're nine congressional seats out of Massachusetts. How many Republicans
do you think they elect. I'm gonna go with zero
again zero goose egg. Understand that Massachusetts so agregious. They say,
the thirty six percent of you Republicans in the state,
you get nothing. Yeah, that is their answer, nothing whatsoever.
And to give you a sense of just how ridiculous
(20:59):
the Democrat politicians are, the Governor Mara Healey, a Democrat,
threatened to redistrict in Massachusetts in retaliation for Texas. So
right now Massachusetts elects nine Democrats and zero Republicans. After
she redistricts, I guess they'll still elect nine Democrats and
zero Republicans. They've literally maxed out their jerrymandering, and yet
(21:26):
that they're still engaged in theater.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You hear these numbers, this is where I think Democrats
screwed up nationwide when they were coming to the aid
of the Democrats from Washington, I mean from Texas. They're like,
you know, we're going to stand by you and will
Jerry Jerry manner even more if they take away seats
from you in Texas. YadA, YadA, YadA. Now people see this,
we're talking about it. Everyone else to put a gold
(21:53):
talking about it. There's a lot of Republicans are.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Gonna be angry.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
How do you fight back if you're in a state
where I don't know, thirty forty percent right of the
more than forty percent some of these states are voting
Republican and they're getting zero representation in Congress. What do
you do now? Is there a legal way to say
this is jerrymandery?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Well, look, they are being shown to be complete hypocrites,
and I want you, I want you now to listen
to this clip from NBC where the governor of Illinois,
Governor Pritzker, is called out on his uto hypocrisy. Give
a listen.
Speaker 6 (22:28):
Every major group that grades the fairness of congressional maps
gives your state an f Common Cause and nonpartisan government
watchdog even says your map and I'm going to quote,
represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go
wrong with redistricting. And I guess the question is, you
talk about preserving democracy, how do you preserve democracy if
(22:48):
you're using the same tactics that you've criticized Texas Republicans for.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
But, as I say, what they're talking about is a distraction.
The reality is that the violation of people's voting rights
is what Texas is attempting to do. That's what's wrong
with their efforts right now. And the fact that the
President of the United States knows it and nevertheless is
asking them to do it, that is what's wrong with
(23:14):
what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Democracy is at stake.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
They always go back to democracy is at stake center, Like.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Don't sit the question, man, how do you know that
a Democrat is lying?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
They start talking about democracy at.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Stake, his lips are moving. Yeah, it's true, it's true.
It is utterly brazen. So let's go back to the numbers,
because the numbers matter. So Illinois, fifty four percent of
people in Illinois vote Democrat, and yet their map right
now elects eighty two percent of the congressional delegation is Democrat.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Now Texas Texas.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Right now today Texas, fifty six percent of the state
in twenty twenty four voted Republican. Our map, we have
thirty eight seats in it, twenty four Republicans, fourteen Democrats.
That means that right now in Texas, fifty four percent
of the Republicans elect sixty three percent of the congressional delegation.
(24:16):
So it's slightly more than the statewide percentage, but not
nearly as egregious as the other states. Now, what Texas
is doing is redrawing the districts so that five new
Republicans are likely to be elected. So instead of breaking
down twenty four to fourteen, it is likely to break.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Down twenty nine to nine.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
That means that we would go from sixty three percent
of the congressional delegation being Republican, we would go from
that to seventy six percent. Now, seventy six percent is
still lower than California, which is eighty three percent.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
It is lower.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Than Illinois, which is eighty two percent, and it's obviously
lower than Massachusetts, which is one hundred percent. And the irony,
the loudest voices that are denouncing what Texas is doing.
Are the governors of California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, three Democrat
hipocrats that are all saying, you guys are drawing your
(25:21):
maps not nearly as bad as we've drawn it, but
how dare you get even close?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And by the way, don't forget the New York governor
Hochel got in on this as well. She was called
out for it on Fox News Channel. Listen to this
summrised it.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
They said it was only three years ago that New
York's Democratic legislature drew up a map so brazenly contemptuous
of basic rules the governor district's contiguousness, that the state's
Democrat dominated Court of Appeals threw it out. The New
York Times at the time called those maps comically contorted.
That's their quote. So your state's highest court at the time,
all the judges appointed by democratic governors, they threw the
(25:59):
maps out. So fair to say Democrats have done what
they're now accusing Republicans of doing.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
No, we followed the rules. We do it every ten years.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
We based on that you didn't follow the rules. Well,
we did follow the rules, So the court was wrong,
but we followed the rules.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
We follow the rooves you didn't the court said you did. No, no,
we follow There was no no no, The court said
you didn't follow the rules. That's how bad they were
in New York on that, Senator.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
And understand, in New York, Democrats get fifty fifty six
percent of the vote and they get seventy three percent
of the congressional district. And but by the way, the
way they do that in New York is is they
break up Long Island, they break up Republican parts and
try to try to elect Democrats that they are. The
way they do it in California is they break up
(26:44):
southern California, they break up Orange County, and they.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Try to break up Republican votes.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
The way they do it in Chicago is they break
up the more conservative votes that are outside of Chicago.
All of that, that's the strategy the Democrats do. And
and listen, the reason Texas is acting to do this
is because it matters number one nationally, if we have
a Republican majority in the House.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
We have a very slim majority right now.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Electing five new Republicans will make a difference, will significantly
increase the chances of keeping a Republican majority in the
twenty twenty sixth election. But it also reflects the values
of the voters of Texas.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Texas is a red state.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Texans want low taxes, we want low regulation, we want
a secure border. We support law enforcement, we support keeping
our families safe. We support the Constitution. We want free
speech and religious liberty in the Second Amendment, Texans believe
in fundamental liberty, fundamental values. And today's left wing, lunatic
(27:50):
Democrat Party is directly contrary to the values of the
people of Texas. And so what the legislature is doing
is drawing a map that will elect a congressional delegation
that reflects the values of the voters. That is not
only not contrary to democracy, that is the essence of democracy,
which is allowing the voters to actually elect representatives who
(28:14):
share their values. And what the Democrats are mad about
is that this map will allow the voters of Texas
to elect representatives who share their values. In their view,
any time you hear a Democrat use the words assault
on democracy, what they really mean is electing Republicans. It's
(28:36):
just about power. It's why these same hypocrites did everything
they could to remove Donald Trump from the ballot. Ye
because nothing says defending democracy like taking your opponent off
the ballot and stopping the pesky voters from voting for him.
They don't believe in democracy. They believe in power, raw power.
(28:56):
So they're perfectly comfortable with Massachusetts having one hundred percent
of its DEWN delegation being Democrats, but they're furious if
a republican state actually tries to have its delegation reflect
the views of its voters.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
That is the beauty of democracy.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And if you think I'm being too harsh, if you
think I'm being to too harsh and too judgmental of
the Democrats, I want you to listen to my erstwhile opponent,
Beto O'Rourke. Now, Beto, you recall ran against me in
twenty eighteen for the Senate. He became a cause celeb
all of the Democrats, all of the media, their hearts
(29:32):
went pitter pat, and he was a phenom.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
And he came within a few points of beating to
be lost.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
And then he ran for president as a Democrat and
he lost, And they ran for governor against Greg ABBOTTNY lost.
So at this point he's zero for three and he's
kind of pissed off about it, and so when he's
pissed off about it, he's really honest and candid.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Give a listen to what Beto had to say.
Speaker 8 (29:55):
They're not going to let him stop us.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Are you with me on that handle.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
It also means, as Mark was saying earlier, we don't
await the punch thrown by these would be fascist to land.
We punch first, and we punch harder. We want California
and New Jersey and Illinois and Maryland and every other
state where the Democrats hold the governor's mansion, the Assembly,
(30:23):
and the state Senate to redraw their congressional districts now,
not wait for Texas to move first to maximize Democratic
Party advantage. Listen, you may say to yourself, well, those
aren't the rules. There are no refs in this game
for the rules. We are gonna win whatever it takes.
We're gonna take this to them in every way that
(30:43):
we can.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Now, you got a lot better there, family values guy, right,
That's why I say he's such a just dynamic candidate.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But look, he is honest. This is today's Democrat party.
It is about power. Nothing else matters. Democracy doesn't matter,
or the will of the voters, doesn't matter. It is
they're imposing their radical left wing values. And the reason
they have to be so obsessed with power is their
ideas are unpopular. If you put a referendum in front
(31:11):
of the American people, you want open borders, overwhelming majority
of Americans say no, No, we don't. You put a
referendument in front of the American people. Hey do you
want to release murderers and rapists and child molesters? American
people say no. Hey do you want to confiscate everyone's guns?
The American people say no. Hey do you want boys
competing in girls' sports? The American people say no. And so,
(31:32):
if you're a party whose entire platform is wildly unpopular,
is on the twenty side of eighty twenty issue after
eighty twenty issue, after eighty twenty issue, the only way
you can implement your crazy ideology is through brute force
and power. And Beto, I'll commend him for being honest.
(31:52):
He's just interested, ironically, in being a fascist, in being
a ttalitarian the language he uses. He doesn't want the
voters to have a say. He wants to force his
radical policies on them. That's what the Democrats are revealing
to the whole country.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Just put in perspective, Democratic favorability is the lowest in
history of CNN polling.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
What is your view of the Democratic Party?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Only twenty eight percent of Americans say that they have
a favorable opinion the Democratic part now fifty four percent
unfavorable of the Democratic Party. Only sixteen percent of Americans
have no opinion. That is the lowest in history of
CNN polling that came out today.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
To put it in perspective, the Democrats are polling six
points above gonorrhea and nine points above ebola. So that's
where their radical policies have taken them. And by the way,
for the fact checkers, I made those numbers up. I
don't actually know where either of those diseases poll.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I like it, don't forget. We do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Hit that subscribe or auto download button. Make sure you
share this podcast wherever you can on social media and
the Senate, and I will see you back here in
a couple of days.
Welcome in as Vertical Center. Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you,
and we get to start with some pretty big breaking news.
The Texas Democratic fugitives. They've conceded. They are apparently going
to return to Austin as the latest report center. This
is certainly going to be tears to many liberals that
were cheering them on in sanctuary states. Now they're going
(00:23):
to actually have to go back to work.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, this is news that broke this evening. The Texas
Democrats who had fled the state the House Democrats defeat
a quorum in order to stop the redistricting in the
state of Texas. They've surrendered, They've admitted defeat. They've announced
that they are coming back. We're going to break that down.
We're going to tell you why they're coming back. We're
going to tell you about what legal authorities the governor
and the Speaker of the House had and used to
(00:47):
force them to come back. And we're also going to
talk more broadly about the issue of jerry mandering because
we have seen in the last two weeks, we have
seen democrats, we have seen blue state governors, we have
seen the media clutching their pearls saying this is horrible,
this is a theft of democracy, and I got to
say in the Annals of Hypocrisy, the democrats reaction to
(01:10):
Texas's redistricting may be at the top of the list
of utter complete nonsense and hypocrisy. We're gonna give you
the facts of what exactly Democrat states do when they
draw congressional redistricts and compare it to Republican states and
spoiler alerts, the Democrat states are much much, much more
(01:33):
egregious in gerrymandering their states than Republican states ever are.
We're gonna give you the facts so that when you're
standing around the water cooler, you're gonna know the response
to someone who decides to do some pearl clutching on
their own.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, no doubt. It's really fun when you see the data.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
They may have wished they didn't go down This road
in Texas is going to have a big impact around
the country.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Let me tell you real quick about it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
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your first order. All right, So this has become like
a rallying cry center around the country. Democrats are like,
they're jerrymandering down there in Texas. You even have Gavin
Newsom getting in on this. He sends a letter to
(03:45):
the Presidence like, well, if you guys don't stop what
they're doing there, then we may have to jerrymandering in
California and get those seats back that you steal from Democrats.
News Alert they've been doing this for decades in California.
That kind of I fired on in pretty quickly. But
now the Democrats are coming home.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well they are, and that's the breaking news this evening.
So I'm reading from one news story here in Texas.
ABC thirteen is confirmed with multiple sources that House Democrats
will return to Texas. Eyewitness News has not confirmed the date,
but we do know that the Democrats believe they've accomplished
their mission by killing the first special session and raising
national awareness about the mid decade redistricting effort. It is
(04:26):
unclear which day they will be in Austin at the Capitol,
but they stress that they will push for Hill Country
flooding relief to be the priority. After our initial reporting
online and on television, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic
Caucus set the following statement to ABC News quote, members
are still assessing their strategies going forward and are in
private meeting to make decisions about future plans. Currently, if
(04:49):
and when the Texas House Democrats breaking quorum decide to
go home is squarely dependent upon the actions of the governor,
Speaker and Texas Republicans in charge make with regard to
prioritizing flood victims over redistricting.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
That hurts Texans.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that's their talking point, but the ultimate bottom line
is they've announced they're coming back.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Now, why are they coming back? They're coming back.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Number one because the governor and the Speaker of the
House is issued in order to arrest them, to bring
them back forcibly and arrest them.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Number two, the.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Speaker of the House has the authority to find them
five hundred dollars a day for every day they are
absent and break quorum.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
They change the rules in the hent in the House.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And by the way, that five hundred dollars cannot be
paid from campaign funds. You can't raise money for it.
It's five hundred dollars out of your personal pocket if
you refuse to show up.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It's amazing how that changes everything for the Democrats. So
hold on a second. We can't can't talk about her money.
What money, What do you mean money?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And number three, and the Governor is proceeding in front
of the Texas Supreme Court to seek to declare those
offices vacant and remove them from office. And so they
were facing a legal barrage and they knuckled under it.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
They were engaged in.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
That, they were engaged in a lot of smoke and
mirrors and show they were throwing a hissy fit. But
at the end of the day, Ben mark myert words.
The result, Texas will pass this redistricting bill, and the
consequence of it is going to be five additional Republicans
elected to Congress from the state of Texas. That is
(06:30):
going to happen, and the Democrats, they may decide to
play out and to have their righteous anger while they
rush off to their comrades to say, we think it
is terrible when Republicans are elected, but they will lose
because they don't have the leverage. And I'll tell you, Ben,
that this is actually a topic that I've got some
personal experience in.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
You've dealt with this before, literally in your own life.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Well, So, in two thousand and two, Greg Abbott was
elected the Attorney General of Texas. He'd been on the
Texas Supreme Court, he was elected AG. When he was
elected AG, he interviewed this this young kid lawyer to
be Solicitor General. And Okay, I'm actually going to take
(07:16):
a break. Have I ever told you the story of
how I got the job of SG.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Okay, So I'm in DC. I'm working in the George W.
Bush administration. I'm the head of policy at the Federal
Trade Commission and a buddy of mine calls and says, hey,
Greg Abbott was just elected AG. And I said, well, yeah,
I knew that I wasn't a complete idiot. And he said, well,
he's looking for an SG. Are you willing to have
(07:42):
your name considered? And I said, well, let me think
about it. Let me talk with Heidi, and I'll call
you back tomorrow and let you know. And I talked
with Heidi. I said, what do you think? She said,
absolutely yes, put your name in. I think that's great.
So I pulled together a resume, I sent it down,
and a day or two later I got a call
asking me to come down to all interview.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
So I did. I went down and interviewed.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Now I didn't know Greg Abbott at all, and I
frankly assumed I'd never get the job. That he would
hire someone who'd known twenty years. That's kind of the
way of the world. He'd hire a buddy of his,
another lawyer.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
He knew baseball in politics, right, you go with someone
you're familiar with.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So I went down there. Now, I'm thirty one years old,
I'm a kid. I do the interview. I don't know
him at all, and a couple days later, I'm actually
out with Heidi. We're in California at her parents' house
and it's about six in the morning where but we're
both asleep in bed and my cell phone rings. I
(08:39):
answer it and it's Greg Abbott and he's calling to
offer me the job of SG and I was I
was floored. But I got to tell you, Heidi almost
fell out of bed. She was so shocked, and she
told me she said, well, look, I told you to
interview because I knew there was no chance you could
(08:59):
get the job. I knew it was absolutely hopeless. And
I actually almost didn't get the job. Abbott told me
later that he almost didn't make me the offer because
he didn't think I had the wine, because he didn't
think I had the experience to be a very good
oral advocate.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
At the time, you didn't put debate champ on your resume.
I'm a little disappointed in you. There.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well it was there, But at the time I had
only argued two cases in my life, so I was
thirty one. Now I won both of them. The two
cases i'd argue I'd won. One was a Court of
Appeals case in private practice, and the other was in
a federal district court in New York on behalf of
the FTC. Now, I will say, in the case in
(09:44):
New York on the other side was the head of
litigation at Crevass, Swain and Moore, which is one of
the top law firms in the country. And I took
him on and beat him in court. And so those
two arguments, I leaned in hard and said, look, I've
done two arguments. I'm two and oh. They were both
hard cases. They mattered and somehow. You know, if you
ever saw the movie Job, if you ever saw the
(10:05):
movie Chicago with Richard Gear where they go and now
a tap dance.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
So I get the job. I head back to Texas.
I'm in Austin.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Spring of two thousand and three, the Texas House, for
the first time in decades becomes Republican, and so the
Texas House begins to do mid decade redistricting. Now what
is mid decade redistricting. Ordinarily, redistricting happens right after the
turn of the decade. So if you get a new
(10:39):
new decade, you get a new census, and with a
new census, you do redistricting with the new numbers that
have come out from the census. That's how it ordinarily happens. Well,
back in two thousand and one, Texas had done redistricting,
but the Democrats controlled the House, and so Texas had
the most egregious partisan jerymander in the country because even
(11:02):
though Texas was voting overwhelmingly Republican on the statewide level,
Texas was electing a majority of Democrats to the congressional delegation.
The Texas Democrats had drawn a map to elect the
opposite congressional delegation from the way the state was voting,
and it was the nastiest partisan gerrymander in the country
(11:24):
by the Texas Democrats. That's what they'd done. So in
two thousand and three, when Republicans took the House, they decided, Okay,
we're going to do redistricting so that we can draw
a map that alects a congressional delegation that reflects the
values of the voters of Texas. So they did so,
and the Texas Democrats in two thousand and three did
(11:44):
exactly what the Texas Democrats did in twenty twenty five,
which is they fled. They said, run away, run away,
And so the House Democrats they went north to Ardmore,
Oklahoma state, a little holiday inn just over over the
Red River, and that the Senate Democrats they went to
New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a fancy, a very
(12:06):
fancy hotel. And I thought it was really funny that
the senators, the Democrats senators were going to a shishi hotel,
and that the House members were at a holiday inn
in Oklahoma. But so one of the first things that
happened is is that the Speaker of the House, Tom Cratick,
a great guy, picks up the phone and he calls
(12:27):
Greg Abbott, the brand new Attorney General, and he says, General,
can I arrest the fleeing House Democrats? And Abbot said,
I don't know. He said, let me let you let
me figure it out. So Abbot picks up the phone.
He calls me, I'm brand new in my job as SG.
He goes ted. The Speaker wants to know can he
arrest the fleeing Democrats who are fleeing the state. I said, General,
(12:51):
I don't know, let me research it. I'll give you
an answer. So I sat down, I did the legal research.
It turns out the answer is unequivocally yes, and The
reason is the Texas Constitution has a provision in it
that is copied word for word from the United States Constitution,
and the US Constitution has a provision that gives both
(13:13):
Houses of Congress the power to forcibly compel the attendance
of absent members so that members do not have the
right to defy a quorum. And in fact, multiple times
that has been used carrying House members or senators into
the chambers in lake irons in handcuffs. And so I
(13:34):
came back and said, the answer is unequivocally yes, you
can arrest them. Now became a little bit complicated when
they crossed state lines because crossing state lines, particularly going
into states with Democrat administrations, it is possible that if
Texas DPS troopers showed up there, that those states could
try to prosecute the officers for kidnapping. That was a
(13:57):
possibility if the governor or the local des decided to
be belligerent, you could get into uncharted legal territory.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
And so the safe.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Fanti is that why, by the way, Democrats have all
picked these liberal cities like Illinois, where the governor says
we're going to back you, We've got you come here,
you'll be safe.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
We won't let them arrest you.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It is more complicated to do it in a liberal
jurisdiction if you have someone who is partisan and politically motivated.
What is unambiguously clear is that when the Texas Democrats
are back in Texas, you can arrest them and you
can forcibly produce their bodies on the floor to get
a quorum. So this will end, they will lose, and
(14:40):
the Texas Legislature will pass this redistrict.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
By the way, if you are arrested and taking to
the four the way that you were described, I think
a lot of people just want to know this around
the country. You can be there like not wanting to
be there. Right, they can drag your butt literally into
the chamber and you're counted there as a human being
that's a member of the legislature. And that's how you
get to a quorum. It's not forcing you to vote, right,
it's just that your present.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Correct And it can be literally with handcuffs and leg irons.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
I mean it now.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's not being arrested for a crime. You're not going
to jail. It is the authority to physically force your
presence in the room because the reason they're fleeing is
is the requirement that there be a quorum. The legislature
cannot do business if they're not sufficient members there for
a quorum. And that's why both the United States Constitution
(15:32):
and the Texas Constitution give the authority to physically compel presence,
because no individual member has a right to prevent the
body from being able to legislate from being able to
do it. Its fundamental constitutional responsibility.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So they're back now, and this has actually brought up,
I think a bigger issue and I want to take
the time. I actually think this may be one of
the biggest backfires in political modern history, in my opinion
on an issue of jerryman A lot of people I
don't think understood just how much abuse of power with
(16:08):
Democrats in charge in different states with jerrymandering, and how
many Conservatives were so underrepresented in Congress. A great example
of that is California. There are several other states that
have like zero representation of Conservatives of Republican members of
Congress because the way they've drawn the district lines to
make sure that it's almost all Democrats all the time.
(16:31):
And a lot of people did not know how much
abuse there was, how much jerry mannering was happening all
over the country in Democratic states until the big Texas
issue happened. I think this could be a backfire for Democrats.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Look, just about every big Democrat state has gerrymandered the
hell out of their map and is frustrating the will
of their voters in their states. So let me give
you some specific examples. California, biggest Democrats state in the country.
In twenty twenty four, or fifty eight percent of Californians
voted Democrat. Thirty eight percent voted Republicans. So fifty eight
(17:05):
percent Democrat. They have a total of fifty two congressional seats.
Of those fifty two, forty three of them are Democrat,
nine are Republican. What does that mean. It means the
Democrats win fifty eight percent of the vote in California
and they get wait for it, eighty three percent of
(17:26):
the congressional delegation.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
That's what they Democrat there.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So the thirty eight percent of Californians that vote Republican
get a total of seventeen percent of the congressional delegation.
They're basically shut out. How about New York New York.
Fifty six percent of New Yorkers vote Democrat, forty three
percent vote Republican. There are twenty six congressional seats in
(17:52):
New York. Nineteen of them are Democrats, seven are Republican.
What does that mean. It means Democrats get fifty six
percent of the vote statewide in New York. Can they
get wait for it, seventy three percent of the statewide
congressional delegation. How about Illinois? All right, Illinois is really
egregious Illinois. Fifty four percent of people in Illinois vote Democrat.
(18:16):
It's not that huge margin. Forty four percent, forty three,
forty three percent vote Republican. There are seventeen congressional seats
from Illinois, fourteen of them are Democrat, only three are Republicans.
So here are the numbers. Democrats in Illinois get fifty
(18:38):
four percent of the vote and they get eighty two
percent of the congressional delegation.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And so the governor, I'm sure, was like, come on down, Texas,
we'll keep you safe.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Here.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
We're experts in this, we know exactly what we're doing
with this.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And by the way, some of the smaller Democrat states
are even more egregious. So, for example, Connecticut, Trump won
forty two percent of Connecticut. You know how many Republican
House members there are in Connecticut.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I'm going to guess zero to one zero there there
you go.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Democrats have one hundred percent. New Mexico. Trump won forty
six percent in New Mexico. You know how many Republicans
are elected in New Mexico to Congress?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Is it zero? Again?
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Zero? Wow? Three Democrats? Zero Republicans.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
But by the way, is that not the actual definition
of Jerry mannering when you have forty seven percent or
forty three percent going for a party and they get
zero representation in Congress?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Maryland, Maryland, Trump won thirty four percent of the vote
in the state. And you know how many Republicans they
have in their delegation.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
One one is the only one.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And by the way, you know what their Democrat governor.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Is saying, what Texas is terrible.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
If Texas does this, we'll get rid of the only
Republican we elect, will take it to zero. We want
it to be one hundred percent. New Jersey, New Jersey,
Trump won six percent of New Jersey, their twelve congressional
seats Republicans have three of them.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Incredible Oregon.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Trump won forty one percent of the vote in Oregon.
Republicans have one out of the six seats. And here's
the one I love. Massachusetts. Yeah, the People's Republican Massachusetts.
Trump won thirty six percent of Massachusetts in twenty twenty four.
(20:38):
They're nine congressional seats out of Massachusetts. How many Republicans
do you think they elect. I'm gonna go with zero
again zero goose egg. Understand that Massachusetts so agregious. They say,
the thirty six percent of you Republicans in the state,
you get nothing. Yeah, that is their answer, nothing whatsoever.
And to give you a sense of just how ridiculous
(20:59):
the Democrat politicians are, the Governor Mara Healey, a Democrat,
threatened to redistrict in Massachusetts in retaliation for Texas. So
right now Massachusetts elects nine Democrats and zero Republicans. After
she redistricts, I guess they'll still elect nine Democrats and
zero Republicans. They've literally maxed out their jerrymandering, and yet
(21:26):
that they're still engaged in theater.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You hear these numbers, this is where I think Democrats
screwed up nationwide when they were coming to the aid
of the Democrats from Washington, I mean from Texas. They're like,
you know, we're going to stand by you and will
Jerry Jerry manner even more if they take away seats
from you in Texas. YadA, YadA, YadA. Now people see this,
we're talking about it. Everyone else to put a gold
(21:53):
talking about it. There's a lot of Republicans are.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Gonna be angry.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
How do you fight back if you're in a state
where I don't know, thirty forty percent right of the
more than forty percent some of these states are voting
Republican and they're getting zero representation in Congress. What do
you do now? Is there a legal way to say
this is jerrymandery?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Well, look, they are being shown to be complete hypocrites,
and I want you, I want you now to listen
to this clip from NBC where the governor of Illinois,
Governor Pritzker, is called out on his uto hypocrisy. Give
a listen.
Speaker 6 (22:28):
Every major group that grades the fairness of congressional maps
gives your state an f Common Cause and nonpartisan government
watchdog even says your map and I'm going to quote,
represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go
wrong with redistricting. And I guess the question is, you
talk about preserving democracy, how do you preserve democracy if
(22:48):
you're using the same tactics that you've criticized Texas Republicans for.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
But, as I say, what they're talking about is a distraction.
The reality is that the violation of people's voting rights
is what Texas is attempting to do. That's what's wrong
with their efforts right now. And the fact that the
President of the United States knows it and nevertheless is
asking them to do it, that is what's wrong with
(23:14):
what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Democracy is at stake.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
They always go back to democracy is at stake center, Like.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Don't sit the question, man, how do you know that
a Democrat is lying?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
They start talking about democracy at.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Stake, his lips are moving. Yeah, it's true, it's true.
It is utterly brazen. So let's go back to the numbers,
because the numbers matter. So Illinois, fifty four percent of
people in Illinois vote Democrat, and yet their map right
now elects eighty two percent of the congressional delegation is Democrat.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Now Texas Texas.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Right now today Texas, fifty six percent of the state
in twenty twenty four voted Republican. Our map, we have
thirty eight seats in it, twenty four Republicans, fourteen Democrats.
That means that right now in Texas, fifty four percent
of the Republicans elect sixty three percent of the congressional delegation.
(24:16):
So it's slightly more than the statewide percentage, but not
nearly as egregious as the other states. Now, what Texas
is doing is redrawing the districts so that five new
Republicans are likely to be elected. So instead of breaking
down twenty four to fourteen, it is likely to break.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Down twenty nine to nine.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
That means that we would go from sixty three percent
of the congressional delegation being Republican, we would go from
that to seventy six percent. Now, seventy six percent is
still lower than California, which is eighty three percent.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
It is lower.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Than Illinois, which is eighty two percent, and it's obviously
lower than Massachusetts, which is one hundred percent. And the irony,
the loudest voices that are denouncing what Texas is doing.
Are the governors of California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, three Democrat
hipocrats that are all saying, you guys are drawing your
(25:21):
maps not nearly as bad as we've drawn it, but
how dare you get even close?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And by the way, don't forget the New York governor
Hochel got in on this as well. She was called
out for it on Fox News Channel. Listen to this
summrised it.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
They said it was only three years ago that New
York's Democratic legislature drew up a map so brazenly contemptuous
of basic rules the governor district's contiguousness, that the state's
Democrat dominated Court of Appeals threw it out. The New
York Times at the time called those maps comically contorted.
That's their quote. So your state's highest court at the time,
all the judges appointed by democratic governors, they threw the
(25:59):
maps out. So fair to say Democrats have done what
they're now accusing Republicans of doing.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
No, we followed the rules. We do it every ten years.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
We based on that you didn't follow the rules. Well,
we did follow the rules, So the court was wrong,
but we followed the rules.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
We follow the rooves you didn't the court said you did. No, no,
we follow There was no no no, The court said
you didn't follow the rules. That's how bad they were
in New York on that, Senator.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
And understand, in New York, Democrats get fifty fifty six
percent of the vote and they get seventy three percent
of the congressional district. And but by the way, the
way they do that in New York is is they
break up Long Island, they break up Republican parts and
try to try to elect Democrats that they are. The
way they do it in California is they break up
(26:44):
southern California, they break up Orange County, and they.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Try to break up Republican votes.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
The way they do it in Chicago is they break
up the more conservative votes that are outside of Chicago.
All of that, that's the strategy the Democrats do. And
and listen, the reason Texas is acting to do this
is because it matters number one nationally, if we have
a Republican majority in the House.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
We have a very slim majority right now.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Electing five new Republicans will make a difference, will significantly
increase the chances of keeping a Republican majority in the
twenty twenty sixth election. But it also reflects the values
of the voters of Texas.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Texas is a red state.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Texans want low taxes, we want low regulation, we want
a secure border. We support law enforcement, we support keeping
our families safe. We support the Constitution. We want free
speech and religious liberty in the Second Amendment, Texans believe
in fundamental liberty, fundamental values. And today's left wing, lunatic
(27:50):
Democrat Party is directly contrary to the values of the
people of Texas. And so what the legislature is doing
is drawing a map that will elect a congressional delegation
that reflects the values of the voters. That is not
only not contrary to democracy, that is the essence of democracy,
which is allowing the voters to actually elect representatives who
(28:14):
share their values. And what the Democrats are mad about
is that this map will allow the voters of Texas
to elect representatives who share their values. In their view,
any time you hear a Democrat use the words assault
on democracy, what they really mean is electing Republicans. It's
(28:36):
just about power. It's why these same hypocrites did everything
they could to remove Donald Trump from the ballot. Ye
because nothing says defending democracy like taking your opponent off
the ballot and stopping the pesky voters from voting for him.
They don't believe in democracy. They believe in power, raw power.
(28:56):
So they're perfectly comfortable with Massachusetts having one hundred percent
of its DEWN delegation being Democrats, but they're furious if
a republican state actually tries to have its delegation reflect
the views of its voters.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
That is the beauty of democracy.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And if you think I'm being too harsh, if you
think I'm being to too harsh and too judgmental of
the Democrats, I want you to listen to my erstwhile opponent,
Beto O'Rourke. Now, Beto, you recall ran against me in
twenty eighteen for the Senate. He became a cause celeb
all of the Democrats, all of the media, their hearts
(29:32):
went pitter pat, and he was a phenom.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
And he came within a few points of beating to
be lost.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
And then he ran for president as a Democrat and
he lost, And they ran for governor against Greg ABBOTTNY lost.
So at this point he's zero for three and he's
kind of pissed off about it, and so when he's
pissed off about it, he's really honest and candid.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Give a listen to what Beto had to say.
Speaker 8 (29:55):
They're not going to let him stop us.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Are you with me on that handle.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
It also means, as Mark was saying earlier, we don't
await the punch thrown by these would be fascist to land.
We punch first, and we punch harder. We want California
and New Jersey and Illinois and Maryland and every other
state where the Democrats hold the governor's mansion, the Assembly,
(30:23):
and the state Senate to redraw their congressional districts now,
not wait for Texas to move first to maximize Democratic
Party advantage. Listen, you may say to yourself, well, those
aren't the rules. There are no refs in this game
for the rules. We are gonna win whatever it takes.
We're gonna take this to them in every way that
(30:43):
we can.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Now, you got a lot better there, family values guy, right,
That's why I say he's such a just dynamic candidate.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But look, he is honest. This is today's Democrat party.
It is about power. Nothing else matters. Democracy doesn't matter,
or the will of the voters, doesn't matter. It is
they're imposing their radical left wing values. And the reason
they have to be so obsessed with power is their
ideas are unpopular. If you put a referendum in front
(31:11):
of the American people, you want open borders, overwhelming majority
of Americans say no, No, we don't. You put a
referendument in front of the American people. Hey do you
want to release murderers and rapists and child molesters? American
people say no. Hey do you want to confiscate everyone's guns?
The American people say no. Hey do you want boys
competing in girls' sports? The American people say no. And so,
(31:32):
if you're a party whose entire platform is wildly unpopular,
is on the twenty side of eighty twenty issue after
eighty twenty issue, after eighty twenty issue, the only way
you can implement your crazy ideology is through brute force
and power. And Beto, I'll commend him for being honest.
(31:52):
He's just interested, ironically, in being a fascist, in being
a ttalitarian the language he uses. He doesn't want the
voters to have a say. He wants to force his
radical policies on them. That's what the Democrats are revealing
to the whole country.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Just put in perspective, Democratic favorability is the lowest in
history of CNN polling.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
What is your view of the Democratic Party?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Only twenty eight percent of Americans say that they have
a favorable opinion the Democratic part now fifty four percent
unfavorable of the Democratic Party. Only sixteen percent of Americans
have no opinion. That is the lowest in history of
CNN polling that came out today.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
To put it in perspective, the Democrats are polling six
points above gonorrhea and nine points above ebola. So that's
where their radical policies have taken them. And by the way,
for the fact checkers, I made those numbers up. I
don't actually know where either of those diseases poll.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I like it, don't forget. We do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Hit that subscribe or auto download button. Make sure you
share this podcast wherever you can on social media and
the Senate, and I will see you back here in
a couple of days.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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