The parliamentarians climbed aboard a bus directed to the headquarters of the Democratic Party in Illinois, where they illustrated the reasons for their choice in a press conference. The boycott aims to miss the necessary quorum – two thirds of those present – for the start of the extraordinary legislative session convened by the Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
To consolidate the control of the classroom, Trump asked Abbott to start a revision of the electoral map, an operation of Gerrymandering which – according to the rumors – should guarantee the Republican Party at least five more seats, reviewing the boundaries of districts today controlled by the Democrats, in particular in the urban areas of Houston, Dallas, Austin and along the border with Mexico.
However, the gesture of democrats could have a political cost. The absence from the classroom prevents in fact from also discussing urgent measures, such as those relating to the management of recent floods. In addition, the fleeing deputies risk daily fines of 500 dollars for deserting the work.
The FBI “may have to” intervene, Trump’s latest declaration: “The Governor of Texas asks that they come back. Many people have asked that they come back. You can’t simply stay looking for. You have to fight. You have to fight. This is the purpose of the elections”. Senator John Cornyn of Texas sent a letter to the director of the FBI Kash Patel yesterday, imploring him to adopt “any appropriate measure” to help Texas law enforcement agencies locate and arrest the democrats who fled the state.
This is not a previous isolated. A similar situation occurred in 2003, when about fifty democratic deputies took refuge in an Oklahoma hotel to hinder another electoral revision. Also in that case, the quorum was finally reached and the law approved. In theory, the colleges map should be updated every ten years, based on the census data. But several republican states, such as Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, are evaluating to anticipate the process, feeding tensions with some democratic states, including California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, who threaten countermeasures. But everything has not been told to you.
The practice of gerrymandering goes to the right and goes to the left. It does not only concern Trump, it doesn’t just concern the Republicans, but everyone. The circumscriptions are often changed with a single goal: to increase the chances of victory of the president’s party. Such a situation has already been lived tens of times with all political colors. But now the controversy is obviously amplified because it is Trump. Of course, the arrest threats from the republican governor throw petrol on the fire, but they count what they matter. The speech is very simple: gerrymandering concerns everyone.
The Californian governor Gavin Newsom – the sinister idol, so to speak – advanced the hypothesis of a referendum to authorize, only once, the state parliament to intervene on the electoral borders. A plan that could penalize the Republicans, with the possible loss of five seats, already circulates. The former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger intervened to hinder this initiative, who had fought for the creation of the independent commission and which today opposes Gerrymandering, both in Texas and California.
Newsom and JD Pritzker, governor of the Illinois, are indicated as possible democratic candidates for the 2028 presidential elections. Trump, asked about his political future, replied to the CNBC: «Probably not. I would like”.
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