During a press conference on Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke about a redistricting plan being pushed by the Texas GOP and President Trump.
00:00Speaker, there's been a lot to press what John said a while ago, there's been a lot to talk about a fight, and exactly what are the ingredients of that fight?
00:12There's been a lot to talk about a walkout, do you play for that one, or do you support it?
00:17Wait, do you want to respond? I'll respond as well.
00:19Yeah, go ahead.
00:20Go ahead, Liz.
00:21Okay.
00:22Well, I was just going to say, yeah, Leader Jeffries will respond.
00:26I was just going to say, there are a lot of ways to fight, but one of the most important things is that people need to know what's happening.
00:31Don't forget that Governor Abbott just put this on the call for the special session after he called the special session in the first place, after the floods in the Hill Country.
00:40He snuck it in, in the dark of night, and they've taken it up and rushed through hearings where the thousands of people who showed up to testify hadn't even seen a map.
00:50Now they've called hearings for this Friday, and they're going to take public testimony, as far as we know, for maybe one day, and that's it, and try to rush these maps through.
00:59And so the most important thing that we can do right now is let people know it's happening, because people across our state hate what is happening, Republicans and Democrats alike.
01:09There was a Republican that testified in Houston that he didn't want him to do it either.
01:13Texans see what's being done to them, and they don't like it, and they're not going to take it.
01:17So number one, we are using our voices to make sure that our constituents and people across the state, no matter who their member of Congress is, know who's fighting for them and their ability to have a say for their vote, to be able to cast their vote and have a say in the elections.
01:32And I want to say one other really important statistic, because we've talked about it, but it's important to know that in Texas, more than 60 percent of the population is minority.
01:41And yet Anglo voters control 65 percent of the congressional seats.
01:46They get to choose the candidates that go to Congress.
01:49So we have the inverse here.
01:50So when Leader Jeffrey said the map is already unconstitutional, being challenged in court, we already think 13 isn't enough.
01:58And now what you see is they're reducing it.
02:00They're reducing the voices of minority communities.
02:02But that should matter to every single Texan, no matter who you vote for.
02:06We should care about the rights of Texans to have our say and let Texans make decisions, not Donald Trump.
02:13So that's one of the most important things.
02:15And you are important in that process and making sure that you're covering it, that you're talking about it, and that people across our state know.
02:21And people across the country are watching.
02:23They're watching what we do here in Texas.
02:24So that's a very important thing.
02:25And I think everybody, everybody who's standing here and our colleagues who couldn't be physically in Austin with us today, who are using their voices, and those who are here but somewhere else on the Capitol.
02:34Because Texas Democrats are standing up, speaking out, and fighting for the rights of all Texans.
02:41It's important for us to make clear to the people of Texas that this effort to undermine their ability for a free and fair election to occur is going to hurt their quality of life.
02:56Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike.
02:59This Texas gerrymander will hurt your quality of life.
03:06And our message to the people of Texas is you deserve better from your government, which should be focused on solving problems,
03:16not simply following orders from Donald Trump, who knows he doesn't have a track record of accomplishment that he can sell to the voters in the midterm elections.
03:28Senator Jeffries, the question is, are you urging Texas Democrats to break form?
03:33That may be the only nuclear option that they can?
03:36My response is simple.
03:39First and foremost, we have to make clear to the people of Texas what's taking place.
03:45Because it's unacceptable, unconscionable, and un-American.
03:50And as elected officials, we have that responsibility.
03:53That's not something we can just brush aside.
03:55In 50 states in America, I'm here in Texas for a reason.
03:59Because these legislators are standing up.
04:03These members of Congress are standing up and communicating to the people of Texas what's occurring right now,
04:09in the middle of the summer, at a special session.
04:11And we will make clear that we're going to do everything possible to support the Texas legislators as they consider the best ways to push back.
04:27It's an all-hands-on-deck moment, and all options should be on the table to protect the people of Texas.
04:35But Texas Democrats are going to be the ones to decide that.
04:39We will fight them politically.
04:42We will fight them governmentally.
04:44We will fight them in court.
04:46We will fight them in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Texas and beyond.
04:53The Texas Democrats are going to show up and stand up and speak up for what's right for the people of Texas.
05:01And they're showing courage and conviction and character in doing that.
05:06And we'll see what happens over the next few days, over the next few weeks.
05:10But the one thing I know is clear, that Texas Democrats are fighting for the people.
Be the first to comment