Latest news with #GOP-held
Politico
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
Obama to headline fundraiser in response to GOP redistricting efforts
Obama's involvement in the fundraiser underscores the importance of the issue for Democrats, who have a chance to retake control over the House next year, after losing both chambers of Congress and the White House in 2024. Trump, recognizing his party's slim hold on the House, is pressuring Republicans to take an aggressive approach to redrawing congressional maps in at least two states. In addition to Texas, the president is insisting Republicans in Ohio — which is legally required to redraw its maps — aggressively redistrict the state to maximize GOP majority districts. The NDRC and its affiliated 501(c)(3) has worked to implement a nationwide redistricting strategy for Democrats and has backed lawsuits in a number of states to stop Republican gerrymanders. The group plans to back state-level electoral campaigns in 13 states through 2026. It's also funded legal challenges related to redistricting since Holder founded it in 2017. A spokesperson for the organization would not provide a fundraising target for the upcoming Obama soiree. Obama has long shown an interest in redistricting — minimally a once-per-decade process to respond to population shifts recorded in the U.S. Census, and one that is rife with partisan politics. He has deep ties to the NDRC and remains close with Holder. His first fundraiser after leaving office was for the group, as was his first fundraiser after the 2020 election. Obama hosted an event that netted $1.5 million for the group in 2023, POLITICO reported at the time. The former president has so far made few public appearances during Trump's second term, and the Aug. 19 fundraiser is just his second fundraiser this year. It comes as Trump has urged Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott to get the legislature to improve the number of GOP-held seats in the state to as many as five additional ones as Democrats make a play to protect their turf and fight for a Senate seat in the Lone Star State. State lawmakers began a special legislative session aimed at doing so earlier this week, and it's still unclear what map they will adopt.
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Texas Republicans aim to redraw House districts at Trump's urging, but there's a risk
Advertisement 'Get ready for some pickup opportunities,' Gonzalez said, adding that his party is already recruiting challengers to Republicans whose districts they expect to be destabilized by the process. 'We're talking to some veterans, we're talking to some former law enforcement.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Texas has 38 seats in the House. Republicans now hold 25 and Democrats 12, with one seat vacant after Democrat Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, died in March. Gonzalez's district — and what happens to the neighboring GOP-held ones — is at the crux of President Donald Trump's high-risk, high-reward push to get Texas Republicans to redraw their political map. Trump is seeking to avoid the traditional midterm letdown that most incumbent presidents endure and hold onto the House, which the GOP narrowly controls. Advertisement Trump's push comes as there are numerous political danger signs for his presidency, both in the recent turmoil over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and in new polling. Surveys from Republicans risk putting their own seats in jeopardy The fear of accidentally creating unsafe seats is one reason Texas Republicans drew their lines cautiously in 2021, when the constitutionally mandated redistricting process kicked off in all 50 states. Mapmakers — in most states, it's the party that controls the legislature — must adjust congressional and state legislative lines after every 10-year census to ensure that districts have about the same number of residents. That is a golden opportunity for one party to rig the map against the other, a tactic known as gerrymandering. But there is a term, too, for so aggressively redrawing a map that it puts that party's own seats at risk: a 'dummymander.' The Texas GOP knows the risk. In the 2010s, the Republican-controlled Legislature drew political lines that helped pad the GOP's House majority. That lasted until 2018, when a backlash against Trump in his first term led Democrats to flip two seats in Texas that Republicans had thought safe. In 2021, with Republicans still comfortably in charge of the Texas Statehouse, the party was cautious, opting for a map that mainly shored up their incumbents rather than targeted Democrats. Still, plenty of Republicans believe their Texas counterparts can safely go on offense. 'Smart map-drawing can yield pickup opportunities while not putting our incumbents in jeopardy,' said Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, which helps coordinate mapmaking for the party nationally.. Advertisement Democrats contemplate a walkout Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the Legislature, which starts Monday, to comply with Trump's request to redraw the congressional maps and to address the flooding in Texas Hill Country that killed at least 135 people this month. Democratic state lawmakers are talking about staying away from the Capitol to deny the Legislature the minimum number needed to convene. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton posted that any Democrats who did that should be arrested. Lawmakers can be fined up to $500 a day for breaking a quorum after the House changed its rules when Democrats initiated a walkout in 2021. Despite the new penalties, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who led the walkout in 2021, left open the possibility of another. 'I don't think anybody should underestimate the will of Texas Democrats,' he said. Texas is not the only Republican state engaged in mid-decade redistricting. After staving off a ballot measure to expand the power of a mapmaking commission last election, Ohio Republicans hope to redraw their congressional map from a 10-5 one favoring the GOP to one as lopsided as 13-2, in a state Trump won last year with 55% of the vote. GOP sees momentum after 2024 presidential election Some Democratic leaders have suggested that states where their party is in control should counter the expected redraw in Texas. 'We have to be absolutely ruthless about getting back in power,' former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke said Sunday on CNN. But Democrats have fewer options. More of the states the party controls do not allow elected partisans to draw maps and entrust independent commissions to draw fair lines. Advertisement Among them is California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has floated the long shot idea of working around the state's commission. The few Democratic-controlled states that do allow elected officials to draw the lines, such as Illinois, have already seen Democrats max out their advantages. Trump and his allies have been rallying Texas Republicans to ignore whatever fears they may have and to go big. On Tuesday, the president posted on his social media site a reminder of his record in the state last November: 'Won by one and a half million Votes, and almost 14%. Also, won all of the Border Counties along Mexico, something which has never happened before. I keep hearing about Texas 'going Blue,' but it is just another Democrat LIE.' Texas has long been eyed as a state trending Democratic because of its growing nonwhite population. But those communities swung right last year and helped Trump expand his margin to 14 percentage points, a significant improvement on his 6-point win in 2020. Michael Li, a Texas native and longtime watcher of the state at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, said there's no way to know whether that trend will continue in next year's elections or whether the state will return to its blue-trending ways. 'Anyone who can tell you what the politics of Texas looks like for the balance of the decade has a better crystal ball than I do,' Li said. Aggressive redistricting also carries legal risks One region of the state where Republican gains have been steady is the Rio Grande Valley, which runs from the Gulf of Mexico along much of the state's southern border. The heavily Hispanic region, where many Border Patrol officers live, has rallied around Trump's tough-on-immigration, populist message. Advertisement As a result, Gonzalez and the area's other Democratic congressman, Henry Cuellar, have seen their reelection campaigns get steadily tighter. They are widely speculated to be the two top targets of the new map. The GOP is expected to look to the state's three biggest cities to find its other Democratic targets. If mapmakers scatter Democratic voters from districts in the Houston, Dallas and Austin areas, they could get to five additional seats. But in doing so, Republicans face a legal risk on top of their electoral one: that they break up districts required by the Voting Rights Act to have a critical amount of certain minority groups. The goal of the federal law is to enable those communities to elect representatives of their choosing. The Texas GOP already is facing a lawsuit from civil rights groups alleging its initial 2021 map did this. If this year's redistricting is too aggressive, it could trigger a second complaint. 'It's politically and legally risky,' Li said of the redistricting strategy. 'It's throwing caution to the winds.'
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Live updates: Congress puts focus on funding as Epstein saga enters third week
Congress is pushing toward its summer recess this week, putting the focus on government funding amid the swirling saga of Jeffrey Epstein. Monday marks two weeks since the Justice Department and FBI issued a memo stating the disgraced financier and sex offender kept no 'client list' and that he died from suicide in 2019. A report by the Wall Street Journal last week on a 'bawdy' letter allegedly written by Trump to Epstein triggered a Trump lawsuit against the Journal after the president said the story was false. That had the effect of uniting the MAGA movement against a common ally, and Trump later pushed for grand jury documents on the Epstein case to be released. But it is not entirely clear that will settle the controversy as some voices in MAGA continue to call for the release of more information by the administration. The political spotlight will be on Texas this week, as the legislature opens a special session that will consider, among other things, a mid-decade redistricting to pump up the number of GOP-held seats. Trump has a sharp eye on that effort. The House returns to Washington on Monday for its last week before August recess. The Senate returns, as well, but is in session a week longer before breaking. This stretch will be full of conversations surrounding Epstein, whether the documents related to him should be released and how the Justice Department has dealt with the uproar. Trump on Monday has no public events on his schedule. He'll have a private lunch with Vice President Vance.
Axios
3 days ago
- Business
- Axios
How Trump's game-planning for the 2026 midterms
President Trump is already fixated behind the scenes on next year's midterm elections for the House and Senate — unleashing his billion-dollar political operation and personally burrowing into the minutiae of races. Why it matters: Now that his "big beautiful bill" has passed Congress, Trump's ability to accomplish more big things there — and avoid impeachment — hinges on keeping the GOP's razor-thin majorities in both chambers of Congress in his last two years in office. Zoom in: Even with all that's swirling around Trump — foreign conflicts, deportations, tariffs, the Jeffrey Epstein fallout — he's micro-level focused on 2026 races. One example: Trump's been particularly locked in on the already messy GOP Senate primary in Texas, where polls indicate Sen. John Cornyn is trailing scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a longtime Trump loyalist. After Paxton's wife announced she was filing for divorce, White House insiders say, Trump — who hasn't endorsed in the race — was aware of it within an hour. He's been asking others about its political impact. Here's how Trump's team is laying the groundwork for 2026: 1. Money muscle Trump's biggest asset could be his enormously well-heeled political operation, for which he continues to aggressively raise money. Trump has told congressional Republicans he plans to spend heavily on their races. He's also planning to headline a big Republican National Committee fundraiser in D.C. this fall. Trump political lieutenants James Blair and Tony Fabrizio are slated to appear at an upcoming donor retreat to be held by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Trump's operation will soon set up fundraising vehicles for candidates in several high-profile races to allow the Trump team to quickly raise money for them. 2. Recruit aggressively The White House is seeking candidates to run in several key races. Trump himself is expected to get involved if an on-the-fence prospect needs a push. Trump aides currently are trying to land a recruit in the race for New Hampshire's vacant Senate seat, for example. White House political director Matt Brasseaux has been attending House candidate recruitment meetings being organized by Georgia Rep. Brian Jack, a former Trump aide. 3. Early redistricting Trump is pushing for Texas Republicans to redraw the state's House districts five years early to create more GOP-friendly seats. That could net as many as five new GOP-held seats and dilute Democrats' voting power — but it carries risks. It almost certainly would face court challenges, and some Republicans worry that some of the party's incumbents could be endangered by shifting GOP voters to districts now represented by Democrats. It also could lead blue states to try the same thing to favor Democrats. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened as much in that state. Democrats already outnumber Republicans in California's House delegation, 43-9. Trump urged members of Texas' congressional delegation to get on board with his plan during a call this week, and his team is eyeing other states for possible redistricting. 4. Keep selling Trump's big bill The White House is drawing up plans to spend the next year-plus selling Trump's domestic policy mega-bill to voters. That won't be easy: Polls indicate the measure — which includes tax cuts and a range of cuts to social programs — isn't popular. Trump and his cabinet members plan to travel to battleground areas to promote provisions of the bill Trump's team sees as politically palatable. Last week, Vice President Vance touted the bill in eastern Pennsylvania. Fabrizio spoke to a small group of House Republicans a few days ago to offer guidance on messaging, and Blair recently addressed a Senate GOP lunch with Trump pollster David Lee. The White House is planning an August retreat for congressional staffers to discuss how to promote the bill. 5. Stave off retirements Trump is trying to use his political sway to persuade battleground Republicans from vacating their seats. Trump this month helped get Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn to seek reelection to his competitive district, rather than run for governor. The White House also is trying to keep Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst from retiring. Ernst drew fire — and a Democratic opponent — recently when she told a group of constituents, "We all are going to die," in response to concerns about Medicaid cuts in Trump's megabill. But top Republicans worry her retirement would complicate their prospects of keeping the Republican-friendly seat. 6. Endorse — and attack — in primaries Trump plans to use his dominance over the GOP to shape primaries — either to ensure the party nominates who he sees as the most electable candidates for the general election, or to punish Republicans who've crossed him. He's endorsed more than a dozen House Republicans from swing seats to try to protect them from costly primary challenges, and is expected to endorse more. He recently met with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to discuss the state's Senate primary for the seat now held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. The White House is eager to avoid a bloody primary and is determining how to engage, similar to its wait-and-see posture in the Texas Senate primary. Trump's political operation has run a pair of ads targeting Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who was one of two House Republicans to vote against the megabill. What they're saying: " The president understands that good politics makes even better policy and has embarked on ... a multidimensional effort aimed at expanding the House and Senate majorities," said Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump political adviser.
Yomiuri Shimbun
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Republicans Tillis and Bacon, Who Split with Trump, Won't Seek Reelection
Two of the best-known GOP lawmakers who have split with Donald Trump in his second term said in a span of 24 hours this week that they would not seek reelection – illustrating how little room there is in the party for dissenting voices and complicating the GOP's path to keeping its majorities in the midterm elections. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) – who has taken issue with Trump's tariff policy, his posture toward Russia and Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service, among other things – announced his retirement Monday, calling himself a 'traditional conservative' caught in a 'tug of war' in his party over issues such as foreign policy and trade. A day earlier, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) declared that he would not seek a third term, after drawing Trump's wrath for opposing the president's priority legislative package. The developments emboldened Democrats in their efforts to try to defeat the sweeping tax and immigration bill as well as capture both lawmakers' seats next year – and worried some Republicans on both fronts. Bacon represents one of only three GOP-held House districts nationwide that Trump lost last year, while Tillis was considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican up for reelection next year. 'When the energy's on the other side, you really don't want to have to defend an open seat,' said Tom Davis, a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The ranks of Republican elected officials who have differed with Trump in recent years has thinned considerably, as fealty to him has become the biggest litmus test in the party and the president has frequently vowed retribution against his critics. Some have stepped down voluntarily, while others have been ousted in Republican primaries. That dynamic is in play once again ahead of the 2026 elections, with other Republicans facing difficult decisions. In Texas, Republican Sen. John Cornyn is already facing a tough primary challenger in a vocal Trump ally, state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn has said he is fully committed to running again. But Paxton sought to stoke doubts about that. 'You next?' Paxton asked Cornyn on X after Tillis announced his retirement. Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator from Arizona who retired in 2019 after his own disagreements with Trump, said the decisions by Bacon and Tillis show how partisanship has only intensified since he left office. That has left independent-leaning lawmakers torn between retiring or forging forward with their every move scrutinized for loyalty to the party, he said. 'I don't blame them at all,' said Flake, specifically referring to Tillis's predicament. 'To go through the next 18 months … trying to thread that needle when the president's already come out against you – no way. That's asking for too much. You couldn't truly be independent.' Trump lashed out at Tillis on Saturday night after he voted against moving forward with the president's bill, and promised to meet with potential primary challengers in the coming weeks. Tillis vowed to speak more freely after announcing his retirement – and wasted little time, heading to the Senate floor hours later to give a scathing speech arguing that the bill went against Trump's insistence that he would not harm Medicaid. 'Republicans are about to make a mistake on health care and betray a promise,' Tillis said Sunday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday bluntly dismissed Tillis's concerns that the bill's Medicaid provisions would prompt rural hospital closures. 'The senator was wrong,' Leavitt said during a White House press briefing. 'The president put out a Truth Social post addressing it, and then the senator announced he's no longer running for office anymore, so I think that case has been closed.' Several moderate House Republicans privately said they were stunned by how the White House responded to Tillis's retirement announcement, according to two lawmakers familiar with the conversations, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations, fueling their concerns about how hard the president's team will work to satisfy centrist concerns' ahead of the midterms. Speaking with reporters in Omaha on Monday, Bacon, who unlike Tillis had avoided an open back-and-forth conflict with Trump, acknowledged that some of his positions, such as his support for free trade and international alliances, put him at odds with some fellow Republicans in the Trump era. 'I'm a traditional conservative at heart, but I feel like I've been able to do what I thought was right, whether it's infrastructure, whether it was also certifying the election,' he said, referring to his support for President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law and for confirming Trump's 2020 reelection loss as the president falsely claimed it was rigged. Bacon said he was retiring to devote more time to family after years of representing a battleground district that requires the incumbent to be 'all in.' He advised his party to be discerning about who they put forward next in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. 'Be careful in a primary of being drug way to the right because you can't win in the general,' he said. Democrats said they were eager to contest the open seat. 'Even though [Bacon] always did end up voting the way that Trump wanted him to, he gave a hopeful vision, which is why he was able to win,' Jane Kleeb, head of the Nebraska Democrats, said Monday during a call with reporters. 'Now that that seat is open, there's no question that we're going to be able to send a Democratic official to Congress representing the 2nd Congressional District.' House Republicans hold a slim majority and roughly a dozen of them have already announced runs for governor and senator, with several others mulling whether to launch their own bids, according to multiple GOP campaign strategists. Two strategists familiar with House races said that the pace of announcements is on par with past years, and that more retirements could come after the August recess, when lawmakers have time to deliberate with their families about running for reelection. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) – chair of the Main Street Caucus, which bills itself as a bloc of 'pragmatic conservatives' – announced Monday he was running for governor, and Rep. Michael Lawler (R-New York) said he would take more time to consider his own gubernatorial bid. Lawler is one of the other House Republicans who represents a district that Trump lost last year. Several House Republicans who belong to the more moderate wing of the party have privately signaled they are considering stepping aside rather than running in tougher terrain, according to GOP officials with knowledge of the situation, but House GOP campaign strategists think those seats – if left vacant – would easily remain Republican. In the battle for the Senate, Republicans may now be in for a messy primary in North Carolina, though operatives acknowledge an early Trump endorsement could tamp down infighting. The potential candidates include Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law who grew up in Wilmington; Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, the former head of the North Carolina GOP; and some of the state's House members, such as Reps. Pat Harrigan and Richard Hudson. 'This is all kind of fresh within the past 24 hours for me, really learning that this was a viable option and that Senator Tillis wouldn't be seeking re-election,' Lara Trump said Monday on Fox News Radio. 'So look, I'm considering it.' On the Democratic side, former Rep. Wiley Nickel is already running, though many Democrats are waiting to see if former Gov. Roy Cooper joins the race. Some Trump-aligned GOP operatives said there was upside to Tillis's decision, giving the party a fresh opportunity to find a nominee who could better unite Republicans and enter the general election with a stronger hand. But open seats can be risky, and the party has fielded some untested contenders in recent elections who ultimately fell flat. Tillis's tensions with Trump date to his first term, when the senator initially opposed the president's declaration of a national emergency to build a border wall. He reversed the position days later amid political blowback. At the start of Trump's second term, Tillis stood out for scrutinizing the background of Pete Hegseth as a choice for defense secretary, though he ultimately voted to confirm him. Tillis openly disagreed with Trump's decision to pardon almost all defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and later helped sink Trump's nominee to be D.C.'s top prosecutor, Ed Martin, over his positions on Jan. 6. While House Republicans praised Bacon on Monday, the reaction to Tillis's decision was more muted among Senate Republicans. Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), the chairman of the Senate GOP campaign arm, did not mention Tillis in a statement expressing confidence the party would keep the seat. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the former majority leader who has repeatedly split with Trump over the years, said on X that Tillis's retirement was a 'big setback' for the Senate GOP. Freshman Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), who won his primary last year without opposition after Trump endorsed him, struck a different tone during an appearance on 'Fox And Friends.' 'I would retire too,' Banks said, 'if I voted against this bill.'
