New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked Republicans who are complaining about their Virginia redistricting loss, explaining to reporters why they're so preoccupied about the possibility of Democrats picking up additional seats in the House of Representatives in this year's midterm elections.
The new lines would shift the state’s congressional balance from a current 6–5 Democratic edge to a projected 10–1 advantage, with only one Republican-leaning district in the conservative southwest.
With Democrats already favored to take control of the House in November, the outcome in Virginia strengthens their position and could encourage the party to pursue more aggressive redistricting efforts in other, traditionally Republican-leaning areas.
When journalist Matt Laslo, founder of the Laslo Congressional Bureau outlet, asked her to comment, Ocasio-Cortez did not hold back:
"Wah, wah, wah. We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no. Republicans have fought for partisan gerrymanders across the United States of America. And these are the rules that they have set."
"And so if the Republican Party wanted to start this, they did this in North Carolina. They drew out three Democratic members of Congress in North Carolina. They did it in Texas."
"What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over, doesn’t fight, and takes everything sitting down. And what they’re mad at right now is that we are here in a new day."
"And we have been asking the Democratic Party to stand up and fight, and now they did—and now the Republican Party doesn’t like the fact that they are fighting against someone who actually will stand up for the American people."
"So if Republicans decide that they would like to revisit a ban on partisan gerrymandering, I welcome them. We have the bill right here to end this all today. But they don’t want to, because they like pursuing and continuing to enact an unfair electoral landscape. And so we have an obligation to defend ourselves."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many concurred with her remarks.
President Donald Trump said the Virginia vote, approved by the public, was “rigged.”
Without citing any evidence, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that "the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory!" He questioned the will of the people, saying “As everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person, and even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the Referendum, and neither do they!" He urged federal courts to "fix this travesty of 'Justice.'"
Trump has previously backed successful GOP-led redistricting efforts in North Carolina and Texas, where lawmakers redrew congressional maps to benefit Republicans. Those moves helped bolster the party’s razor-thin majority in the House.
California Governor Gavin Newsom—a top Trump critic—later mocked MAGA Republicans after his state, despite GOP pushback, passed Proposition 50, which allows Democrats to draw a new redistricting map in California in response to the GOP's gerrymandering efforts.
Newsom had framed his redistricting plan as an emergency response to the Texas plan that Trump championed. Trump supports that plan because he “got the highest vote in the history of Texas” and is therefore “entitled to five more seats.”
@thekalenallen/Threads
U.S. Mint
