On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) responded to Republicans invoking the congressional maps in Illinois by saying that if Texas adopts its proposed maps, “California’s going to follow suit, New York, Illinois. And I guarantee you that we are going to fight fire with fire.”
Guest host Victor Blackwell asked, “Let me ask you this, because this is not something that is exclusive to Republicans, as you know. And Republicans invoke the decisions made in Illinois as part of their defense. So, is the issue for you or for other Democrats the timing that this is not happening on the typical every decade cycle or that it is partisan? What’s the big issue here?”
Clyburn answered, “Well, the big issue is how you do redistricting. That’s the big issue. And if you look back at all the legislation that we’ve proposed, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and other bills that we’ve proposed on the Democratic side, we have always proposed bipartisan commissions to draw the lines. That’s what we’ve done, and that’s where we are. Now, I’ve never been all for that simply because I knew that we would get to this point when you might have to use politics in order to offset this stuff, and that’s what’s going on now. If Texas [does] what they say they’re going to do, California’s going to follow suit, New York, Illinois. And I guarantee you that we are going to fight fire with fire. That’s what we’ve got to do.”
Blackwell then cut in to ask how that would work with Republicans controlling more legislatures.
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