A former top Republican official delivered a strong warning to Democrats on Wednesday.
Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said on MSNBC’s “The Weeknight” that MAGA’s latest election rigging scheme should be seen as a warning. MAGA Republicans in Texas are pursuing changes to the state’s electoral map to eliminate five seats currently held by Democrats. Several other states have announced they are considering similar changes.
“Texas is just the tip of the iceberg,” Steele said.
So far, Florida is the only other Republican-controlled state to announce it is considering redistricting its electoral map. Democratic-controlled states like California, New York, Illinois, and Maryland have also said they would redraw their maps in response to MAGA’s efforts.
Steele noted that he believes these plans likely contradict the Constitution.
“We do this every 10 years. That’s what’s laid out for us in the Constitution,” Steele said. “We now have a political party that is breaking, or interrupting, that process, by injecting for purely political purposes, gaining and controlling power.”
Whether Democrats can match MAGA’s tactics is another question. Democratic states like California and Colorado have independent redistricting commissions that draw their electoral maps.
Steele added that if he ran the Democratic Governors Association, he would tell all of his members to redraw their maps as well.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) noted that those states created the independent commissions because they were “trying to do the right thing” for voters.