House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries went on CNN this weekend with a message that was part pep talk, part preemptive spin: Republicans may redraw the maps in Texas, Florida, and elsewhere, but Democrats, he insisted, will still take back the House in 2026.
On State of the Union, Jeffries tried to project confidence: “As Democrats, we’re going to focus as well on fixing our broken health care system and cleaning up corruption. So we have an affirmative agenda that is compelling that we will continue to present to the American people. The Republicans have failed. That is why they are running scared.”
But Dana Bash wasn’t about to let him skate past the obvious contradiction. She pointed out that while Jeffries rails against GOP redistricting in Texas, he himself backed the move to throw out maps drawn by New York’s supposedly independent commission so Democrats could install their own. Isn’t that hypocritical?
Jeffries’ answer was telling. He waved off the comparison and claimed New York’s maps were “fair” because they were ultimately passed on a bipartisan vote. Texas, he said, was “a racial partisan gerrymander ordered by Donald Trump as part of an effort to rig the midterm elections.”
The problem with that line is twofold. First, “bipartisan” in Albany doesn’t mean what Jeffries wants it to mean. Republicans hold only a sliver of power in New York’s legislature, and their options were to accept a heavily Democrat-friendly map or get steamrolled. Calling that compromise “fair” is like praising the fox for negotiating with the hens.
Second, Jeffries’ dismissal of Texas ignores the broader political reality: redistricting is not a one-sided game. Democrats have been gerrymandering aggressively in states they control—New York, Illinois, Maryland, California—for decades. What’s changed is that Republican states, after years of hesitation, are finally playing by the same rules.
That’s why Jeffries’ prediction—that there’s “no way” Republicans can gerrymander their way to a majority—is more whistling past the graveyard than serious math. Democrats were indeed down 24 seats in 2018 and flipped 40, but that was during Trump’s first term, when the political environment was a perfect storm in their favor.
In 2026, the winds are blowing in the other direction: a Republican White House, new maps in red states, and an electoral coalition that has been drifting away from Democrats in working-class districts.
Jeffries is trying to set the stage early, painting Republican map-drawing as illegitimate while glossing over his own party’s maneuvers. But voters aren’t blind to the double standard. Everyone knows gerrymandering is the game both parties play—what matters is who plays it better.
