Texas Republicans lit a match under the Democrats by launching a bold mid-decade redistricting plan that could flip multiple Democrat-held seats and give the GOP a commanding 30–8 edge in the House delegation by 2026. Predictably, Democrats cried foul—calling it racist and undemocratic—even though they’ve played the same game for years in states such as Maryland and New York.
But here’s the kicker: the moment Texas made its move, Democrats in blue states started scrambling to redraw their own maps—some even looking to override their supposedly sacred “independent” commissions. So much for their high-minded rhetoric. Texas didn’t just redraw lines—it exposed the Left’s dirty little secret: Democrats hate gerrymandering only when they’re not the ones doing it.
Democrats love to pose as victims in the gerrymandering fight, but their record tells a different story. While they denounce GOP-drawn maps as existential threats to democracy, they’ve had no problem rigging districts in their own favor in deep-blue states. The latest GOP moves didn’t invent this game—they just exposed the left’s double standard. Democrats were never against gerrymandering; they were just against losing control of it.
Leading the charge is former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, who’s spent years pretending to champion “fair maps.” But that high ground vanishes the moment Democrats get the pen. When Republicans redraw lines, it’s a “crisis.” When Democrats do it in places such as Illinois or New York, it’s rebranded as a noble fight for representation. It’s not about fairness—it’s about power. And the hypocrisy couldn’t be more obvious.
ICYMI: Whoa! Has NBC Finally Learned From Colbert’s Mistakes?
And naturally, Holder isn’t even pretending to care about fairness anymore. As the New York Times notes, “Amid a contentious, Republican-led redistricting effort in Texas, Mr. Holder reversed course, arguing that Democrats should respond in kind, with their own aggressive gerrymander as a temporary salve in an increasingly fraught battle.”
You see how it works?
These are the folks who spent years touting “nonpartisan” redistricting, and now they don’t even want to pretend that’s their goal anymore.
“Well, our commitment to fairness and to justice in the process remains. But you have to be cognizant of the situation in which you find yourself and the tactics that they are employing,” Holder told the New York Times. “This midcycle redistricting ploy in Texas, and potentially in other states, is something that has to be met in the moment.”
He added, “Our commitment to fairness didn’t blind us to this new reality, and I think that we’ve got to take these extraordinary steps, with the hope that we can then save democracy and ultimately heal it.”
What Holder doesn’t say—and what no Democrat is willing to point out—is that Texas didn’t start this gerrymandering war. In recent years, Democratic lawmakers in New York, Maryland, and Illinois have aggressively redrawn congressional maps to favor their party, often sidestepping legal norms. In New York, Democrats bypassed an independent commission and passed a mid-decade map that the state’s highest court struck down as unconstitutional. Maryland’s legislature overrode a veto to push a map aimed at eliminating the state’s lone GOP seat, which a judge labeled “extreme partisan gerrymandering.” Illinois Democrats moved early to lock in a heavily favorable map. These cases reveal a clear pattern of Democrats manipulating redistricting to secure political advantage for their party in Congress.
It’s insulting to the intelligence of anyone paying attention. The American public is watching a party lecture the nation about fairness while running the very playbook they pretend to abhor. If Democrats cared about integrity, they’d call out their own architects of gerrymandered fiefdoms, admit their addiction to power, and demand true reform that holds everyone accountable. But that would mean giving up a weapon, not just changing who’s swinging it.
In the end, Democrats aren’t crusading for democracy. They’re crusading for advantage, and the only “unfairness” they truly oppose is any that doesn’t tip the scales in their favor. They’ll make a show of outrage, demand reform, and cry foul whenever it serves them, but their true creed is as simple as this: rules for thee, but never for me. It’s time to stop pretending otherwise.
