Washington, D.C. — Today, POLITICO reported that President Trump is extorting and bribing Republican lawmakers across the country with political favors and threats to force them to gerrymander their states. In state after state, Republican politicians are deciding to follow orders from Washington to gerrymander, rather than listen to their own constituents.

This is the latest escalation in an ongoing effort to force Republicans to fall in line, using mafia-boss style tactics such as holding federal funding over governors’ heads and offering lucrative endorsements to lawmakers in exchange for cooperation. 

John Bisognano, President of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), issued the following statement in response to the latest reporting by POLITICO on Trump’s pressure campaign:

“In a desperate attempt to shield his party from accountability at the ballot box for stripping health care away from millions of Americans and handing massive tax cuts out to the rich, Donald Trump is engaged in a corrupt scheme to threaten and bribe GOP politicians to gerrymander. Instead of standing up for voters and rejecting these anti-democratic efforts, too many Republicans in the states have chosen to bend the knee and follow orders to gerrymander from Washington.” 

Below are key highlights from POLITICO’s reporting: 

“…If you are a Republican perceived to be in the way of Republicans, there could very well be consequences,” said the national Republican official, granted anonymity to discuss ongoing conversations, adding that the White House expects every GOP state that could redraw its map to do so.

…

“I don’t know what else you call it but a ‘loyalty test.’ They have to do it because they don’t want to be attacked by the president,” said a North Carolina Republican operative granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “A lot of legislators tell you privately that they don’t want to do it, that it is silly, but they’re going to fold.”

…

Some Republicans privately worry they risk pushing the redistricting cause too far and triggering a backlash among moderate voters for single-seat gains. A majority of independent voters disapproved of Texas redrawing its congressional districts, according to an August poll conducted by YouGov.

“It’s going to start costing us a lot of support in the middle,” said a national Republican consultant, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “At some point, this will be counterproductive. I don’t know if we can redistrict our way out of a bad cycle.”

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