This Op-Ed originally appeared in Washington Examiner on July 31, 2017
Liberals are trying to mess with Texas. And they don’t plan on stopping there.
Still reeling from nearly a decade of devastating losses in statehouses across the nation as well as in the 2016 presidential election, Democrats in Washington, D.C. are plotting to pour hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local elections across the country.
With the help of hedge fund billionaire George Soros, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee hopes to wrest control from voters of congressional re-districting in 2021 when booming conservative states such as Texas will gain seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. All for the benefit of their special-interest donors.
That the first fundraisers for this self-described “super group” were held in San Francisco and Los Angeles reveals one of their goals: to reinstate Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. But they aren’t stopping there.
Headed by former Attorney General Eric Holder, the tax-exempt 527 political action committee plans a three-pronged attack to flood state-level races with outside money, to leverage activist courts to wrest control of state redistricting plans, and finally, with the formidable community organizing prowess of former President Barack Obama, to fund astroturfed ballot initiatives in the guise of “fairness.”
During Obama’s eight years, Democrats lost 12 governorships, nine Senate seats, 62 House seats, and more than 900 state legislative seats.
Republican legislators are now the majority in both chambers in 32 states, and an amazing 33 states, including Texas, are led by Republican governors.
Resoundingly rejected by voters, Democrats’ last hope is to pervert congressional district maps to subvert the will of the people.
Here’s how.
Every 10 years, states redraw their legislative and congressional districts based on Census population changes.
People vote with their feet, and Texas has grown more than any state in the nation — with many of that number coming from Nancy Pelosi’s California. They are attracted to Texas by the good-paying jobs being created here and the freedoms offered here.
Less government, lower taxes, smarter regulations, and right-to-work laws — these are the pro-growth economic policies that help our homegrown businesses flourish and that attract employers to Texas from states that over-tax and over-regulate.
As a result, more Texans are working today than ever before.
Those winning conservative economic policies are threatened by the Democrats’ plan to re-engineer Texas’ district maps to make them look like California’s maps.
The Soros network has their sights set on re-drawing congressional districts in the Lone Star State to push their progressive agenda and turn the Texas dream into a California nightmare.
But they’re not stopping there.
The Democrats are looking to re-draw hundreds of congressional districts across the nation.
Soros has meddled in local elections before, including efforts to influence secretary of state elections and their administration of election law.
In 2016, he also reportedly spent nearly $11 million on a dozen local district attorney races, including one in Harris County, Texas. The vast majority of his selected candidates won when their opponents were overwhelmed by the inflow of cash and negative campaigning.
Those victories, along with recent successful efforts to challenge redistricting maps in a handful of states, have given Democrats a taste of victory.
What Obama could not accomplish while in office, turning red states blue, he will attempt to do now through the machinations of this “super group” — a partisan focus unbecoming a former president.
I’ve got news for Nancy Pelosi and her pet project: Texas is not up for grabs.
I’m running for re-election to make sure that San Francisco liberals such as Pelosi will not be running our great state. I’m committed to preserving Texas’ liberty. And I will continue to fight back against the liberal agenda that threatens the future of our nation.
The GOP needs to take the Soros network and the Holder, Obama, and Pelosi alliance seriously.
The integrity of the people’s vote is at stake.
We must ensure re-districting efforts reflect the will of the people — not the depth of donors’ pockets.
I urge my fellow Republicans to act now.
Complacency at the state and local level in 2018 will threaten the integrity of our elections and the future of our nation for generations to come.