By Suzanne Bowdey

The Texas tantrum over redistricting may have made for good television, but it’s turning out to be a terrible strategy. Sure, Democrats may have earned some kudos from their raging base, but opening this can of electoral worms is starting to backfire, strategists warn. Part of the price of painting Republicans as gerrymandering cheats is exposing the Democrats’ own years-long hustle of rigging congressional maps. Now that the spotlight is on, Americans are finally getting a good look at how badly the Left has abused the system in blue states. And it isn’t pretty.

In one of the truest silver linings of this unexpected storyline of 2025, Republicans are finally pulling back the curtain on how liberal leaders have spent decades scamming the system. While governors like Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) are showing plenty of bravado in their threats to retaliate, the reality is this: they’re picking a fight they’ll almost certainly lose. 

Already, conservatives in other states are starting to pore over their own districts, pointing out huge inequities that were fueled by the 2020 Census. Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R) of Indiana is just one of the GOP members ready to pounce on the injustices that Joe Biden introduced to the nationwide count. “We’re starting to learn a lot more of what happened through the 2020 election and what happened through the redistricting that took place in 2021,” he told “This Week on Capitol Hill” guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice on Saturday. And if you look at some of these states like California, Illinois, [and] New York, they have all redistricted in a way that has really made the balance of power very unfair. In Washington, D.C., they did it in the dark of night. They took advantage of this situation.“

Stutzman ticked off some of the worst abuses. "Look at Illinois, for example. Out of the 17 districts in Illinois, only two are Republicans. Look at California. They’ve got over 50 some seats, and the minority is, of course, Republican.” And yet, he shakes his head, Newsom is ready to engineer a new map that would erase just about any GOP seats at all. 

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), a solid conservative who would be one of the five Republican targets of the governor’s plan, can’t believe the audacity of the Democrats’ power grab. “The voters spoke very loudly that they wanted [the redistricting] in the hands of an independent group of people,” he pointed out to Hice on “Washington Watch,” “not in the hands of legislators. … Let me put it this way. Back in 2001, when they drew them themselves, the joke was that they drew what was called the ‘incumbent protection plan.’”

Now, he warns, “it’s a free-for-all.” Essentially, LaMalfa explains, “What they’re doing is they’re going to draw the maps first, and then they say they’re going to go to the ballot and ask people for permission to set aside the Constitution on that.” Which, he argues, isn’t even legal under California law. Already, “the Democrats have a 3-to-1 majority in Sacramento. So it’s easy for them to pass two-thirds legislation and still have members to spare.” But this would affect House seats, he clarified, basically wiping out most of the state’s conservative representation in Congress.

“There [are] 52 members of the House in our state, [and] it’s 43 [Democrats] to nine [Republicans] right now.” This effort would knock out five of those nine, “tak[ing] it down to only four surviving Republicans if their scheme somehow works out.” LaMalfa paused before adding, “Whatever the word democracy [means], this isn’t it. This is … the most blatant example, I think, of a power play I’ve seen in all the years I’ve ever observed politics in, at least in my home state here.”

While Democrats move forward, it’s already starting to bite them in other corners of the country. Republicans, who’ve watched with outrage as Newsom tries to oust the tiny remnant of conservatives, are taking a serious look at red states where things have been skewed by things like illegal immigration populations. 

“We’ve had these conversations before about what’s the best way and what’s the fairest way for redistricting,” Stutzman said. “It’s a difficult process. It’s a political process. And so, in a lot of times when states win majorities in their House of Representatives and their state senates, they’re the ones that draw these maps. And sometimes the courts get involved. Sometimes the independent commissions get involved. But what I believe is the reason for Indiana to redraw the maps is the fact that states like California, New York, [and] Illinois right next door to us, they all counted their illegal immigrants into their census, which gives them an unfair number. … So the fact that Indiana has taken a look at this, I think is a wise thing to do.”

Especially, observers point out, since Democratic states have already exhausted their efforts. That’s what was so hilarious about the reaction to Texas’s effort. In places like Massachusetts, Governor Maura Healey (D) talked tough about punishing Republicans by redistricting — only for the media to point out that they have no Republican districts. 

That’s the Pandora’s Box Democrats have opened with this war, Hice reiterated. “So many of our blue states have been gerrymandering for years and have been doing so in such a way as to basically freeze out Republican representation.” Now, GOP strategists are starting to even the score. 

“We’re looking at the numbers from the elections over the past several cycles and realizing that California, Illinois, and New York have already done this, and it gives them a huge advantage,” Stuzman agreed. His next-door neighbor, Illinois, is one of the biggest culprits, he argues. “In fact, I would encourage any of your viewers to pull up the Illinois congressional maps and then pull up the Indiana ones and look at the difference. It has some sort of dragon-looking snake thing that kind of goes through the entire state. And that’s just basically picked out all the Republican areas.” Now the slant is 17 Democrats to two Republicans. 

“And I would blame the media, the mainstream media, for being complicit in all of this,” he emphasized. “They were also a part of this whole scam as well. They didn’t say anything about the fact that Republicans in Illinois [are] underrepresented in Washington, D.C. and [in] states like Indiana. … We’re stepping back and saying, ‘You know what? If this is the way that the game is going to be played, the Democrats have started this process already. We’re going to push back, and we’re going to fight back,’” Stutzman vowed. “And I think it should be done in the sense, because it is truly about making sure that Americans have real representation — fair representation — in Washington from state to state.”

That doesn’t bode well for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who must quietly be wringing his hands over the growing conservative counterattack. “From here,” The Washington Times warns, “things could get worse for Democrats.” After all, Seth McLaughlin writes, “Republicans face fewer hurdles in the red states of Indiana, Missouri and Ohio, where they are considering the Trump-inspired mid-decade map changes that could boost the GOP’s chances of defending their thin House majority in the midterm elections next year.”

As FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter cautioned, “Democrats would be wise to do everything in their power to tamp down the ‘redistricting war,’ as some have called it, simply because they do not have as deep of a reservoir of potential new districts to draw in the states they control as Republicans do. Most Democratic states have already maxed out the party’s share of their congressional delegations by aggressively gerrymandering over the years,” he told The Washington Stand.

Already, Stutzman and company have made the trek to Washington to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance and other White House officials to flesh out a battle plan. “I’m done bringing a knife to a gunfight against aggressive, nonstop left-wing tactics,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said, blaming Biden’s decision to include illegal immigrants in the census as a way to slant the number of Democratic seats. “It’s time to fight on an even playing field and secure fair representation for our state.”

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.