00:00You mentioned during the press conference today the meeting that you had with Texas legislators.
00:04What can you say more about what was discussed and then the actions that you and the other legislators will take against Trump and the efforts to redistrict the state of Texas?
00:13We're not going to support unilateral disarmament.
00:16That is what happened in North Carolina in 2024.
00:19The Republicans decided not within the normal 10-year cycle for redistricting, but that is, well, what has changed the rules now?
00:25They added four Republican seats that had been evenly split before that.
00:29We saw what happened.
00:31The big, beautiful bill passed by that many votes.
00:33That was the difference between what's happening now.
00:36So, therefore, we are not going to let Republicans get away with it in Texas to wipe out the seats of five duly elected Democratic members of Congress and put Republicans in place and skewer the lines.
00:51So it's gerrymandered in a way that Democrats would never have success to win.
00:55It's also racist.
00:56It's discriminatory.
00:58And what we can do is not necessarily stop them, although we had the conversation with the legislators who left the state.
01:04There were six who came here.
01:06A number went to Chicago.
01:08And we talked to them about, you know, how brave they are.
01:11It takes courage to literally leave to say they cannot have a quorum necessary to pass the lines that literally Donald Trump drew himself, probably with the help of artificial intelligence.
01:22But who knows?
01:22So I say this.
01:24New York is exploring all of its options.
01:27We have more constitutional constraints than other states like California who can move more quickly.
01:33But within those constraints, there is a window to pass legislation that's already been introduced to have a vote on changing the timeline for redistricting.
01:45Instead of 10 years, we can do it shorter.
01:48But I need to change the Constitution.
01:50Two consecutive legislative sessions in a row.
01:52Right now we are in the 25-26 session.
01:56It needs to pass in 25 or 26.
01:59Then again in 27 or 28.
02:01We can get this lily on the ballot in the fall of 2027 because it's up to the voters to decide any constitutional amendments.
02:08And that could have the opportunity to have lines drawn for the 2028 election, which is shorter than the current timeline we're on, which is 2032.
02:16So that's what we have available here, also looking at litigation, but sounding the alarm.
02:23I mean, this is a hijacking of our democracy, the likes of which we've never seen before.
02:27And people need to understand that this is stealing elections from duly elected Democrats for their own political game.
02:33It is beyond the pale, and I'm angry about it.
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