As has been widely reported, MAGA Republicans in Texas — at the bidding of Donald Trump — have concocted a flagrantly racist and undemocratic gerrymandering scheme that would rig the 2026 congressional election in their favor to an unprecedented degree.

• This nakedly partisan ploy would lock in an expected five additional seats for Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives — possibly preserving their control of Congress no matter what a majority of voters want.

• It will come as exactly no surprise that this MAGA plot primarily attacks districts with many voters of color, in effect disenfranchising Black and Brown Americans in some of our country’s most diverse communities.

• And of course Trump and his MAGA sycophants throughout the Republican Party are not limiting this maneuver to Texas — similar election rigging schemes are already being floated in Florida, Missouri, Ohio, and likely other states.

• In a democracy, voters are supposed to choose their political representatives. But Trump and Texas Republicans are trying to flip that around, with MAGA politicians choosing their voters so as to rig the system in their favor and lock in an unfounded congressional majority that could be all but permanent.

• Democrats in the Texas Legislature took the exceptional and lawful step of leaving the state so that there would not be enough members present for a vote on the Republicans’ subterfuge.

It’s plain to see what’s going on here:

Trump’s popularity is plummeting, and Americans overwhelmingly reject his policy agenda — which so far includes stripping healthcare from 17 million Americans, slashing taxes on the super rich, conducting heartless and cruel mass deportations, cutting off investments in renewable energy, and much, much more.

Trump and MAGA Republicans fear (for good reason) that voters will penalize them in next year’s elections. So — in a page right out of the authoritarian playbook — Trump is trying to rig the rules so that Republicans can’t lose, no matter how the people vote.

Join Public Citizen in a message of solidarity and encouragement for legislators in Texas and any other state who take decisive action in response to racist and undemocratic election rigging schemes by MAGA Republicans.

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For democracy,

- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
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