Beto O'Rourke: 'The Best Antidote To Despair Is Action' - The Last Word - MSNBC

[Rhiannon12866]

Former Texas Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke tells Lawrence O'Donnell that he sees "a response that meets the moment and that I think it's going to be more than a match for these voter suppression efforts in Texas." Aired on 04/26/2021.

[TexasTowelie]

1. Considering how the state was gerrymandered after the 2010 election,

I don't know if the Republicans can gerrymander two more districts without putting some of their safe seats at risk. The population growth is occurring near the cities and in the Rio Grande Valley which would favor Democratic interests. I expect that the results of the redistricting will result in one more safe GOP seat and the other seat being purple that either party could win.

Hopefully, the redistricting will end the fajita strip districts in South Texas represented by Cuellar, Gonzales, and Vela that are one county wide and extend for a couple hundred miles to the north. Vela has already indicated that he will not run in 2022. Gonzalez is the weakest of the three current representatives and he had a difficult time holding his seat in 2020. Meanwhile, the suburbs of Austin have absolutely nothing in common with those in the Valley so I could envision those districts being redrawn into more compact shapes and could flip two of those three seats to Republicans.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Well, that doesn't sound like such positive news

But if the Republicans are in charge it never is. I know what you mean, I've seen some of those bizarrely drawn districts. My own district (NY-20) which extended south to Saratoga County and as far south as Greene (I worked on the campaign for our last Democratic congressman and made GOTV calls, was grateful at the time for the district map on the wall!). But we got redistricted and are now combined with District 21 which stretches to the far north. The Rep at the time was a moderate Democrat, but when he retired, we've been stuck with the odious Elise Stefanik ever since.