As redistricting battles are reaching a boiling point, Democrats said President Donald Trump "started this" while defending their own party’s response ahead of the 2026 midterms.
"Donald Trump started this battle, and if people thought Democrats were going to sit on their hands while this happened, that was not the case," Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said. "We’re going to fight back."
"Democrats did not want this," Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., added.
On Tuesday night, Virginia voters narrowly passed a congressional redistricting referendum backed by Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger, securing a victory for Democrats and shifting momentum in the race for the U.S. House of Representatives.
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The Virginia referendum, which comes after Trump’s push for redistricting in Republican-controlled states, could give Democrats four more House seats.
"It all starts with Donald Trump asking Gov. Abbott to do an unusual mid-decade redistricting," Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said.
Aguilar said that President Trump’s push in Texas may have sparked the nationwide map fights, but "Democrats and the American people are going to end it."
"Republicans engaged in redistricting discussions in Indiana and in Kansas and in all these other places. It’s incredibly frustrating," Aguilar said. "Republicans started this fight, but Democrats and the American people are going to end it."
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., called the move "a grab by the president."
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"Mr. Trump said in Texas he was owed five seats, and that’s what triggered redistricting with no transparency," Dean said. "Just a grab by the president."
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said states following Trump’s lead are "doing the bidding" of the president and escalating the fight.
"I think that Trump started a slippery slope that we’re sliding down," Johnson said. "Democrats have to match the overreach of complicit Republicans doing the bidding of Donald Trump."
Democrats justified their response as a strategic "play."
"What Democrats have done is just play defense," Takano said. "We’re not going to roll over and just allow this to happen."
Some Democrats said they had no choice but to join the gerrymandering efforts. Both parties hope to win the House using this strategy.
"No one should be interfering with the democratic process, but Mr. Trump was the one who initiated it," Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., said.
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Johnson said he believes gerrymandering goes beyond politics and could also impact voter representation.
"Partisan gerrymandering is a fig leaf for what’s really happening, which is the racialized redistricting meant to make America great again by excluding Black folks from being able to elect the representatives of their choice, Black and brown people," he said.
One democrat suggested redistricting could wind down soon.
"I think we may have seen the end of any viable redistricting right now before the election," Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said.
However, Takano said Democrats would not back down.
"You can’t bring a knife to a gunfight and say, ‘Hey, Republicans can just change districts mid-decade without a response,’" he said.
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