Written by Dean Obeidallah
“We are at war!”
I’ve started several articles this year with that line because that is truly where we find ourselves given the threat posed by Donald Trump and MAGA to our freedoms and self-determination as a people. Trump is not hiding his efforts to use the power of the federal government to silence dissent and punish those who dare defy him. And to be clear, Trump and the GOP not only want to rule us now—they want to do that forever just like Hitler dreamed of a thousand-year Reich.
That is why we see Trump demanding that GOP governors rig the 2026 election by redistricting the congressional maps mid-decade to grab more seats. And they are of course complying. In Texas, the GOP this week unveiled a proposed new congressional map that will net them five more seats in the House of Representatives. And on Saturday, a GOP Texas House committee voted to advance the bill.
In Florida, GOP Gov Ron DeSantis declared this week he’s “seriously” looking at asking the Florida Legislature to redraw the state’s existing congressional map to add more GOP seats to Congress. And in Ohio, the GOP legislature will be re-drawing the congressional maps this fall. All of this to establish one party rule on the national level—exactly like Trump’s close friend Viktor Orban has achieved in Hungary.
That is why Democrats who control Blue states must gerrymander the crap out of the congressional maps to net more Democratic seats before the midterm! In some states that might be challenging given state laws, but they must find a way.
Taking a step back, I hate gerrymandering. I wish every congressional seat was competitive in the general elections since that is better for democracy. But these are not times for idealistic notions. Again, we are at war—and the brutal truth is we are losing. The GOP controls the White House, Senate, House and U.S. Supreme Court,
At this moment, we are truly not a Democratic Republic. What I mean by that is the framers who created our Republic did so by way of the Constitution that includes built in checks and balances to prevent an all-powerful king from ruling them. But the checks created by the Constitution on the power of a president—namely Congress and the judiciary– don’t currently exist.
The GOP members of Congress will literally do anything Trump asks of them. As to the courts, while we have seen federal judges stand up to Trump—the corrupt GOP controlled Supreme Court have overturned them and ruled for Trump in just about every meaningful case. Add to that, last year the GOP justices of the Supreme Court not only shielded Trump from criminal prosecution for his attempted coup–but they expanded presidential immunity to the point where Trump could literally sell pardons to the highest donor and he would be absolutely protected from prosecution. (I’m not exaggerating.)
However, in the 2026 midterms, we have the very real opportunity to achieve the first step in taking back our country. That is why we must at least win the House. If we do, House Democrats will have the power to block any of Trump’s horrible ideas from becoming law.
And potentially even more significant is that House Democrats will control every House committee meaning they set the agenda, have subpoena power and more. House Democrats can hold headline grabbing hearings on every issue we need to focus to win back the White House in 2028–from the economy and inflation to GOP’s corruption and even the Jeffrey Epstein files.
In fact, winning the House became even more important after Trump on Friday fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner who had released economic data that day showing job growth was anemic. In Trump’s America, you are not permitted to let the truth get in the way of his lies. Now Trump will replace this commissioner with a MAGA person who will lie about the economy to make Trump look good—especially as we approach the 2026 midterms. But with congressional subpoena power, House Democrats can subpoena economic experts to share with a national audience how the economy is actually doing.
The good news is that we are already seeing some Democratic governors embrace congressional redistricting. The most vocal has been Gov. Gavin Newsom who declared on Thursday he will call a November special election to have voters approve new House maps that boost Democrats. Currently, the GOP hold 9 seats in California. Given Vice President Kamala Harris won California in 2024 by 20 points, Democrats could design a new map to grab a good chunk of the 9 seats. (For context, Trump won Texas by 13 points in 2024.)
In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker last week made it clear if Texas goes forward with taking Democrats congressional seats, he will do same to GOP. Currently there are three GOP held congressional seats in Illinois.
In New York, state Democrats earlier this week took the first steps to redesign that state’s congressional maps by introducing legislation to make this a reality. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signaled her support for this measure stating, “I do not like a scenario where we are disadvantaged when we’re following the rules.” The process in the Empire State though may be more challenging than in Texas but with the GOP holding seven congressional seats in New York, the Democrats must use every tool available to expedite the process to flip these seats. (Hoping they design a map that gets rid of the insufferable GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik.)
Other solid Blue states where a few seats can be flipped by way of new maps include New Jersey and Maryland. Even a gain of one or two seats could be the difference in deciding which party controls the House after the 2026 midterms.
This is not a war we started. Trump and his fascist enablers began this mid-decade redistricting battle. Given the stakes, though, we must respond with all the weapons we have at our disposal. As Gov. Newsom stated on Thursday about his decision to change California’s congressional maps: “We can criticize that from the sideline — or we can defend our democracy and fight fire with fire.”
In fact, we must respond with even more ferocious fire!