A handful of states led by Democrats could have tried to redistribute the redistribution of half of the decade to counteract the impulse of President Trump in the states led by the Republican Party, but apart from California, they have a slow leg to act.
Ailsa Chang, host:
President Trump has repeatedly asked the states led by the Republicans who again draw their congress districts before the middle of next year. Texas did, the new Missouri map awaits the governor’s signature, and leaders in Florida and Indiana are openly discussing it. The states led by Democrat have mainly taken to act in response. Colorado Public Rady Beente Birkeland reports from its state.
Bente Birkeland, byline: California voters will decide this November if temporarily omit their independent redistría commission to draw five more blue seats. And in August, Governor Gavin Newsom made a plea. He asked the blue states to join California’s fight against the Republican Gerrymendering party.
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Gavin Newsom: We need to get up. Not only California. Other blue states need to stand up.
(Applause)
Newsom: We need to be firm. And I solve …
Birkeland: But that has not happened. Democratic governors in spinning states such as Illinois and Maryland have said that everything is on the table, but they have not made any movement. Then red. Like California, it has an independent districts redistribution commission. The billionaire entrepreneur is thirsty to lead movement in those two states. He says that this national partisan battle is like his sausage nightmare came true.
Kent Thiry: anyone who treasures representative democracy and the fragility of representative democracy must be horrified by what is happening at this time.
Birkeland: Thiry says he just thought he doesn’t want Colorado to follow California’s example …
Thiry: I am not critical of those who have decided that they are currently in a shooting and you cannot unilaterally disarm. I respect that logic, I have just been an active part of it.
Birkeland: In Colorado, the Democrats control the state government and occupy both seats in the United States Senate, but the delegation of the House of Representatives is four Democrats and four Republicans. Some political observers say, in theory, it would not be so difficult to draw two more favorable seats for the Democrats. However, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Brian Tyler Cohen told the progressive podcaster that it is impossible to change the way in which the State draws the lines of Congress before the mid -period elections.
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Jared Polis: Our State Constitution has a process. That cannot be amended in a free year. Therefore, there is no mechanism to go to the ballot this year, as California is doing.
Birkeland: That means that 2026 is the early thing that something could reach the ballot. But changing the way redistribute that is partisan is not an idea that polis seems to support. And he also does not believe that voters would do it.
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Polis: Come through this. And swing voters, non -affiliated voters don’t really like this type of pure arrogance.
Birkeland: Polis says that he believes that Democrats can turn seats when focusing on other things, such as the impact of Trump’s mass tax and expenses.
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Polis: This will be an albatros around the neck of all the Republicans who voted for him.
Birkeland: But outside the political establishment of Colorado, some on the left want to defend themselves. Jorge Rodríguez is an accountant of the northern part of the state. He is trying to ask a question on the 2026 ballot to allow Colorado to draw more blue seats. Rodríguez says his idea won a traction after publishing on her in Reddit.
Jorge Rodríguez: Child of frustrated why democratic leaders in Colorado do not try to do anything. They are only playing in silence.
Birkeland: Rodriguez’s idea still faces obstacles. The ticket title has not been approved, and then the sponsors would have to raise money to obtain enough signatures to put it before the voters and launch a state campaign. Rodriguez himself voted for the Independent Colorado Commission in 2018.
Rodríguez: I do not regret, but in the light of what is happening at this national moment, I know, things can change. And things have changed.
Birkeland: But if the change occurs in Colorado, and that is a great yes, the State will have to wait until after 2026.
For NPR News, I’m Bente Birkeland in Colorado.
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