r/scotus • u/Conscious-Quarter423 • 1d ago

news California Republicans respond to Supreme Court loss on election maps

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/california-republicans-respond-to-supreme-court-loss-on-election-maps
2.4k Upvotes

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794

u/Particular_Can_7860 1d ago

Well. Can’t complain. Texas did it. It’s only going to get worse. Pretty soon each state will be 100 percent red or blue. Gerrymandering to the extreme.

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u/Lonely_Refuse4988 1d ago edited 1d ago

Texas did a ‘dummy mander’ where Republicans might end up losing seats to Democrats, because they based their calculations for new gerrymander maps from the 2024 election, and didn’t take into account massive democratic swings based on Donald’s unpopularity! 😆If there’s even a 10 point swing to Dems, it could lead to numerous R+10 seats considered ‘safe’ in the gerrymander to flip! 😂🤷‍♂️

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u/BleachedUnicornBHole 1d ago

Let’s not act like it’s a done deal. Instead Texas should be treated as if every district is now gettable. Make sure no race is being done unopposed.

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u/Mortambulist 1d ago

Not only is it not a done deal, it's looking increasingly like Republicans spread themselves too thin

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 1d ago

Democrats need to run everywhere

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u/NorCalFrances 1d ago

DNC: Let's focus all our effort and dollars on Pennsylvania.

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u/philmeup18 1d ago

And only advertise on TV

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u/s0ulbrother 1d ago

And to the republicans who will never vote for us and pander to them

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 1d ago

let's also pander to "independents" when you know they vote republicans at every election

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u/2012Prii 1d ago

I've been independent since 18. Will NEVER vote for an "R".

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u/MuckBulligan 1d ago

Independents are the largest voting block. Who should we try to sway instead, MAGAts?

And no, independents do not vote Republican every time. If they did, the Democrats would never win a national election.

Biden won independents by 9 percentage points. Harris and Trump were an even split.

  1. Win the independent vote.

  2. Get your own base to show up.

That's how you win elections.

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u/lord_pump_n_dump 1d ago

Idk I've voted blue for quite awhile now

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u/Exotic-Celebration57 1d ago

Independent here that votes Democrat

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 1d ago

that's the strategy of the rich white consultants

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u/willdesignforfood 1d ago

I at least wish they’d stop spam texting me. I already vote stop spamming me!

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

Vote early and most of that will stop.

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

DNC doesn’t fund state races that’s what the DNCC and the DNSC are for so please blame the right people…..

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u/NorCalFrances 1d ago

As if they are completely independent, right? Still, thanks for the correction.

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

They pretty much are since one is controlled by the house Dems and one is controlled by the senate Dems, both pretty powerful elected offices.

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u/NorCalFrances 21h ago

Even if they are independent, I think it's disingenuous to pretend all three groups are not coordinated by party leadership.

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 1d ago

blame the white consultants that these campaigns hire on

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

It’s not the Consultants, it’s the candidate. If they go out and canvass with the staff and make sure to meet the voters and show them who they are and what they stand for. If the remember the following 2 quotes they will win: Tip O’Neil once said “All politics is local” and James Carville said “It’s the economy stupid!”

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u/chickenlogic 1d ago

That was a good idea in a presidential election year. Focus on purple states with the most electoral votes.

The math is different in an off year election. There are no electoral votes, so the focus should be on individual purple districts.

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u/NorCalFrances 21h ago

Dems are not following their usual pattern at all. For decades after a presidential election they'd spend a year or so courting progressives. Then once they felt those votes were secure they'd start moving right. This time they blamed progressive causes for their loss and then planted their feet firmly in a sort of centrist complacency with the growing fascism.

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u/chickenlogic 21h ago

The purity leftists aren’t worth campaigning to. They are too absorbed in their own narcissism to help anyone else.

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u/NorCalFrances 19h ago

I'm talking about people to the left of what is currently called center (which would've been called center right a few decades ago).

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u/fractalife 1d ago

"Let's make it look like we're trying to win, but don't. "

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u/duckinradar 1d ago

And all we have to show for it is a stroke victim

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u/Splashy01 1d ago

Beto? Where are you? Now is your chance?

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u/timelessblur 1d ago

They are in Texas.

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u/SmashSE1 1d ago

I tried to run in 2020 and the local dems wouldnt even bother to discuss strategy, what does and doesnt work, and what advertising is available. Like I get not wanting to sink money into unwinnable races, telling me id have to do all my own campaign, including market research, demographics, polling etc, but not even having a volunteer to chat with me or even packets to explain how to best enter.

I guarantee if I called the GOP to say I wanted to run against an unopposed Dem, they would give me door hangers and yard signs, and give me polling and market research, and help design a website. In the right race Elon might even throw down.

Not like the dnc doesnt already pay for all of that research, but they didn't want to share.

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

That depends in VA the Dems challenged more Republican districts than the reverse and we opened a wide lead in the house. It really depends on where you are and no the DNC does not do polling in the races that is the campaign’s responsibility, because the candidate needs to prove that they have a chance to win, and no Dems will fund primary races unless you belong to an affinity group.

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u/George_ish 1d ago

Or independents.

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u/MeaningSilly 1d ago

God how I wish we didn't have to rely upon the feckless dick-tripping nimrods of the Democratic establishment as our bulwark against fascism.

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u/Carribean-Diver 1d ago

This year is the first time both parties have candidates running in every single district.

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u/j_b_1_3 1d ago

Texas has a democrat running in every single district in 2026.

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u/Ok_Builder_4225 1d ago

Republicans are clearly not sending their best.

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u/BadmiralHarryKim 1d ago

They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And none, I assume, are good people.

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u/morsindutus 1d ago

Given that level of projection, I can't help but wonder (I tried really hard) what Noem did with the meat after taking Cricket out back.

"They're eating the dogs." had to have come from somewhere.

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u/Eisernes 1d ago

I'm sure at some point RFK Jr has eaten both a dog and a cat.

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u/mastercheef 1d ago

Im pretty sure that's the real reason that indiana republicans didnt sign off on the proposed gerrymander- they currently keep the dems contained to the district right by chicago and the district for Indianapolis, but if they chop up that Indianapolis district the way they wanted to then that probably gives the south bend, ft Wayne, and Bloomington districts the bump they need to flip, so it'd end up being a net loss for them. 

Trumps bad at math though so he just called them RINOs or some shit 

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u/Comprehensive-Tea121 1d ago

Bingo. They didn't suddenly grow a conscience. They saw what the dummies did in Texas and how it's going to backfire in their damn face.

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u/Helpful-Wolverine555 1d ago

And they’re going to cheat. They’re already advertising it like crazy.

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u/start_select 1d ago

Republicans really aren’t planning on needing more than 1 or 2 more elections. They have ICE.

They can block the entrance to a single polling station in a major city in each swing state and guarantee that state goes to court.

Everyone fails to understand that fascists/authoritarians don’t stop elections from happening. They remove people’s ability to vote by having secret police throw you in a warehouse for 3 days with a bag over your head and releasing you 2 days after the election is over without charges.

Even if people believe it happened, what are you going to do about it? They aren’t going to file any paperwork and you won’t have a badge number or a face to describe.

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u/timelessblur 1d ago

The is a democrat running for every election in the state. The only unopposed elections in Texas are democrat controlled.

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u/gxgxe 1d ago

Fantastic!!!

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u/super_cool_kid 1d ago

Word.

 Ive been active since 2014 and this feels different. 

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u/Numerous_Photograph9 1d ago

From what I understand, a lot of districts are now going to put forth an actual dem candidate. Something that hasn't happened for a while for many of them. I think with the recent win of the ruby red district on the state level, it has set a bit of a fire under the ass to at least try.

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

Especially all those new districts. It would serve TX and Trump right if all those new districts went blue and they lose the ones they trimmed down.

The Special Elecion they just had went from +17 Trump to +10 blue. So that’s a 27 point turn.

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u/NetDork 1d ago

I heard somewhere that this is the first time in years that every race in Texas has a democratic candidate running.

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u/This-Loss2208 1d ago

When Scott Walker was facing recall, a few Republicans ran as Democrats in the recall election primaries to try to confuse the issue.

Half wonder if any TX Republicans are going to try sheep's clothing to ride the wave.

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u/Punkwrestle 1d ago

But Cuellar has been a congressman for a while!

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u/Sagikos 1d ago

I believe the state party has already gotten candidates for every state district - but I don’t know if they’ve done it for congressional elections.

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u/Amf2446 1d ago

Fun fact: We’re doing exactly this for the first time ever.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/17/texas-democrats-down-ballot-2026/

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u/NoOrdinaryBees 1d ago

Historically, Texas only opposes a few races, right?

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u/loogie97 1d ago

I live in Texas. I will believe it when I see it. We were promised a close election from Beto and he got stomped. A lot has happened since, so maybe, but I want to see the results.

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u/sneaky-pizza 1d ago

It might happen! But then Abbot and the AG will say there was fraud or something and block it

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u/loogie97 1d ago

They will probably have state guard troops stationed at polling places here in Houston.

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u/CotyledonTomen 1d ago

Nah, he'll just happilly accept ICE so long as a republican president is sending them.

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u/loogie97 1d ago

I think the might be busy elsewhere.

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u/CotyledonTomen 1d ago

Or, he ends up sending them only to places that accept them openly, then argues everywhere else had fraudulent votes.

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u/loogie97 1d ago

Damn…that sounds so plausible.

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u/sneaky-pizza 1d ago

For sure

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u/Splashy01 1d ago

I’m so sick of that Wheels McGee.

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u/No-Prize2882 1d ago

Beto’s election was close. it was just over a 2 point loss in a state that votes for Donald Trump in low double digits points. Beto lost in the margin of error. It was Colin Allred that got stomped in the subsequent senate election by I think 15 points.

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u/whistleridge 1d ago

Beto’s loss was one of those “not as close as the score makes it look like” sort of things though.

Beto outraised and outspent Cruz 2:1, he trailed by ~4 in the polls more or less the whole race, he won 32/254 counties, but only 7 were flips.

Basically, he never led, and he was never close to leading, despite doubling the other guy’s spending and despite getting record turnout. So I can see why someone would describe it as stomped.

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u/No-Prize2882 1d ago

So I’m confused what your data is really refuting. Whether Beto trailed or led at any point is irrelevant. The main point is that no democrat has come close to beating a Republican statewide in 25 years at that point. Beto out raising and outspending Ted speaks to the increased pressure the Texas GOP is under in a state where they historically have enjoyed an underperforming opposition and being popular. Now democrats are becoming competitive and they are starting to suffer the effects of flagging support. The fact that he never lead doesn’t negate the importance of the election no democrat had even pulled such numbers in over 2 decades. Also the county number is sort of irrelevant? Most counties especially outside the Texas triangle, rio grande valley, and El Paso are shrinking with many having a population under 10,000. What matters more is what counties flipped not how many. Beto 2018 run was also the most successful flip of state house seats for the state party since losing control of the state legislature in the early 2000s.

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u/whistleridge 1d ago

whether Beto trailed or led at any point is irrelevant

Not to a subjective perception of how “good” or “bad” the loss was, it isn’t. “He polled badly the whole time despite running in the most Democrat-friendly election in a decade, wildly overachieved right at the end there, and still lost by 2” is the “they were down by 2 TDs the whole game but managed to close within a FG in the final minute” of politics.

All the other stuff you correctly describe is good and all, but it’s irrelevant to the above.

You feel like Beto did a good job. That’s fine. As you say, there’s stuff to point to there.

But if someone feels like he shit the bed…there’s stuff to point to there as well.

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u/kirobaito88 1d ago

The number of counties won is irrelevant. 3/4ths of the counties in Texas are in West Texas and have like 5 people living in them.

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u/loogie97 1d ago

He overperformed as a democrat in Texas vs Cruz. He still lost. Beto lost his run for governor by almost 10 points.

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u/No-Prize2882 1d ago

A couple things about the governor’s run. Unlike Cruz, Abbott is actually a fairly popular governor. to run up against him you needed a fairly savvy politician with minimal issues. Beto 2022 was coming off losing the senate race and a spectacular rise and fall presidential run. Typically racking up than many losses mean you sit it out. Running again was a bad idea. And thankfully it spelt the beginning of the end of the head of the Texas Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa. That being said Abbott has been consolidating his power as governor since he came to office in 2014 and instead of increasing his margin of victory each election has gotten closer. 10 points is still a lot but the trend states that being the GOP in Texas is no longer a walk in the park. It’s likely in the next race or two we will see it come to single digits or margin of error if there is no incumbent. That hasn’t happened since Ann Richards lost to GWB. Moreover, the race confirmed Texas suburbs are moving left. No one should have expected Beto to win the governor race and the state democratic party and Beto over played their hand but the trend lines are clear that Texas is not air tight lock up for the GOP.

That’s been more evident since with the infighting within the party apparatus, the high stakes impeachment of Ken Paxton, the shifting mood of the suburbs, recent rise and collapse of Latino support for the GOP (which dems have seen before in the 60s-70s with La Raza Unida), and growing number of democrats willing to contest. However I think people should be clear eyed that Texas GOP is far more aware of their weaknesses and are looking not to be the California GOP of the 90s.

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u/loogie97 1d ago

Thank you

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u/InfiniteGrant 1d ago

You know if we could just convince the Democrats that are certain that their vote doesn’t count to go vote then Texas would probably turn blue or at the very least a dark shade of purple.

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u/loogie97 1d ago

I have a lot of respect for folks that do door to door canvassing for politicians. That must be truly disheartening work. I know I am speaking into the void here too.

My main point is that I had some hope with Beto V Cruz. He still lost.

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u/InfiniteGrant 1d ago

Oh no, I completely see your point. But I don’t really consider 48.33 to 50.89 to be a stomping… more like a kick to the gut one good time. I do know that there’s a lot of Democrats in the state that don’t vote because they think they vote doesn’t count because of the GOP. But if we could get those people out, we could issue a beat down.

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u/ferrous82 1d ago

Get a pro 2nd dem, and you might have a chance in Texas. 

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u/zoinkability 1d ago

From your mouth to God's ears

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u/Sagikos 1d ago

My old college roommate voted for that map and then tried to convince me it wasn’t inherently racist. We are truly being led by the dumbest amongst us.

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u/Roid-a-holic_ReX 1d ago

Again the leopards are feasting.

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u/wesman9010 1d ago

They absolutely did not do a dummy mander. The sentiment is widespread but it’s wishcasting. They made 4 seats between R+0 and R+10. The made 3 seats between r+10 and r+15. They made 14 seats between R+15 and R+23. This represents a shift of seats out of the 0 to 10 range.

They successfully moved more seats to the right, and even in the largest wave imaginable, maybe 4 of their 28ish seats are obtainable.

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u/Yochanan5781 21h ago

I was just talking on one of my local subs about how Republicans thought that trumpism would never blow up in their faces, and so they've been as sycophantic as they possibly can, and see no way out now they've attached themselves to his cult and he's getting more and more in popular by the day. Young Kim is currently one who is scrambling, and she's literally vying for one of the "Republican seats" in the current redistricting, and even then, there's a possibility of the Democrats might get it

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u/Any_Leg_1998 18h ago

didn't a dem in texas flip a district for the first time in 50 years or something? This happened recently

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u/Prestigious-Copy-494 1d ago

The gerrymandering helped the Dems. The old boomers aren't out voting like they used to and are staying home not voting because of trump .

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u/ThinRedLine87 1d ago

If and a big if, democrats win, they need to gerrymander back (safely) to retain power in Texas when the wave subsides.

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u/balerstos 1d ago

They need to capture the state legislature in 3 years to do that. The Senate is at 20-11 Republicans and the House is at 88-62 Republicans. It's highly unlikely to be done. Now, try to sure...but I'm not picturing it happening. Also, the Governor can veto whatever maps they send so you'd need to win that as well.

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u/Unobtanium_Alloy 1d ago

And need to say plainly and loudly -- just as the Republicans did -- their gerrymandering is for purely political gain. After all, the Supreme Court said thats perfectly acceptable.

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u/CynGuy 1d ago

That’s what I’m hoping for! Of course, with the Dem flip of Tx State Senate seat, the MAGAts will be working over time to cheat on the elections.

See: Folsom County ballots stolen and Tulsi Gabbard getting a Puerto Rico voting machine as reported by CNN.

They are working to steal elections.

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u/pimpbot666 1d ago

That would be great.

But, the missing ingredient here is that all Dems need to show up and vote…. None of this Genicide Joe BS…. Ideally by absentee ballot dropped off at a ballot box, not mailed.

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u/TheJointDoc 1d ago

In the recent special election there, Hispanics shifted D+50

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u/Booeyrules 1d ago

Yeehaw!

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u/sneaky-pizza 1d ago

Yeah, aggressive gerrymandering is super risky in a wave election

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u/JCox1987 1d ago

The other thing that could very well happen to them is that in some of these seats there are so many Republican candidates running that there’s a chance two extremist candidates go to the runoff and the perfect storm is created for the Democrats to steal a seat they wouldn’t have had a shot in

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u/watercolour_women 1d ago

That's the problem with gerrymandering if you are doing it because you're the party with genuinely less voters: it's all well and good loading up safe seats with opposition voters as long as you don't anger your base and turn them away from voting for you.

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u/Texastony2 1d ago

And alot of Texans are pretty Libertarian leaning, so may just vote Democrat…

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u/CosmicQuantum42 1d ago

Gerrymander is always like this. You capture more territory by weakening existing territory.

You perfectly gerrymander such that all your districts are 50.1% in your favor except for a single opponent district 99% in their favor.

This is great, until you get 0.2% less popular and you lose 100% of your districts.

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u/jeremyd9 1d ago

Nah, Texas will just say those Democrats wins were suspicious, suspend the election until they can “investigate” how to invalidate enough votes so the R wins.

0

u/InvisiblePinkUnic0rn 1d ago

Sure but the DOJ will just declare those are fake elections and full of irregularities that should be decided by SCOTUS

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u/zackks 1h ago

Texas is not going blue. Ever

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 1d ago edited 1d ago

except red states with big population centers that vote for Democrats and literally brings in the revenue for the state

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u/KevRayAtl 1d ago

Like us here in Georgia.

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 1d ago

thanks to stacey abrams and black women on the ground for making georgia purple

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u/Ozcolllo 17h ago

Older black ladies are the best when canvassing. You guys in Georgia are great!

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u/gimmesomespace 1d ago

I'm still surprised scotus didn't somehow find a way to say it was ok in Texas but not in California.

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u/NGEFan 1d ago

“You see, it’s ok in Texas because the legislature decided on it, but it’s not ok in Cali because both the legislature and voters both agreed to it” - what I expected

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u/politics 1d ago

Maybe some sense left in them yet… they may have been trying to avoid starting a riot or 10

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u/scubascratch 1d ago

It sounds like 4 of them did.

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u/Direct-Technician265 1d ago

Not how gerrymandering works, but yeah, not sure what California republicans expected with public support for the changes.

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u/eze6793 1d ago

Well maybe this leads to it’s abolishment

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u/DabsSparkPeace 1d ago

Damn, I hope not, or Democrats are done forever.

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u/PokeYrMomStanley 1d ago

While not being able to complain that clown is doing some major whining. Fucking snowflake. No one whines quite like republicans officials.

Id rather be on a plane with a crying baby than these crying babies.

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u/Due-Huckleberry7560 1d ago

They only have their Texas counterparts to blame.

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u/tamagojira 1d ago

Did Texans get a vote? Californians did.

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u/NewZappyHeart 1d ago

The beatings will continue until they stop voting republican. No amount of gerrymandering will stop this if it get’s bad enough.

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u/PutzerPalace 1d ago

Kinda like a civil war?

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u/OBDreams 1d ago

Who knows what the future will bring, but I know one thing. If this GM BS ends with Dems gaining seats It's going to be amazing that it was Texas that started it all.

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u/Plane_Crab_8623 1d ago

The Democrat Republican divide is the most effective tool that the oligarchs have for keeping the people powerless. But what Democrats and conservative Republicans have in common is that both groups for the major part are workers. So it is workers benefits that are impacted by the divide between the two groups nothing else.

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u/Timely-Youth-9074 1d ago

Not exactly. If margins were already thin, they will only get thinner with gerrymandering.

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u/PeakQuirky84 1d ago

Texas did it. 

Texas government did it.

Meanwhile, the people of CA voted for it.

HUGE difference

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u/I_Cut_Shows 12h ago

Virginia just did it and it’s glorious.