JOHN DICKERSON: Now to a national partisan chess match over control of the House of Representatives. Republicans in Texas today released a draft of their proposal for new- for a new congressional map designed to increase the number of districts favorable to the GOP. This is in advance of the 2026 elections, which will determine control of the House. The plan, pushed by President Trump, could invite a response from states where Democrats hold power. CBS's Ed O'Keefe joins me now to explain. Ed, what is exactly this proposal in Texas?
ED O’KEEFE: Well, look, they released a new map today. And while that's not unusual because states redraw their lines after a national census every ten years, what is unusual is that they did it in the middle of a decade, and they redrew it in a way that is designed to influence the results of next year's elections that are still about 450 days away. So consider this: there are 38 House seats from Texas, and of the 38 members of the Texas congressional delegation, just 13 of them are Democrats. But the map drawn today would essentially take five of those Democratic districts and make them more Republican or more likely to be won by a Republican in next year's elections. We know typically, the party in The White House loses seats in the first midterm election of a president's term. But The White House has been pressuring Texas Republicans to do this, redraw in hopes of padding the slim majority they have right now on Capitol Hill.
DICKERSON: Extremely briefly, Ed: any chance it would backfire in Texas? Before I ask you about Democrats.
O’KEEFE: It totally could, because if the midterm, the historic midterm trends head in the Democratic direction, districts that are redrawn amid public outcry about this could potentially tip them towards Democrats. It's a big risk, and something nobody in Texas wanted to do. They're doing it because the president asked them to.
DICKERSON: Very helpful. Okay, now to the Democrats. There are Democrats saying, okay, we got to do this in our states. Is that going anywhere? Is that possible?
O’KEEFE: Well, it is. Let's- let's focus first on this- Congresswoman Julie Johnson, who we spoke to in Dallas. It's one of her districts. Her district is one of those that would be redrawn. It's centrally located in the Dallas area right now. She told me 62% of her constituents rent. Education is a top priority, but the way they redrew it today, if you look at this, it stretches that district from Dallas, hundreds of miles into rural east Texas. And she says, “that means I'm going to have to worry about water issues and expanding broadband, and not just those issues on education.” Then I asked her what she thinks Democrats across the country should do. Take a listen.
JULIE JOHNSON: They need to redistrict their maps. You know, this is an all out war. I am for fair and independent redistricting across the country, so long as we all do it. But if we're going to do partisan gerrymandering, then game on. We all should. We all need to be playing by the same rules.
O’KEEFE: If Texas does it. Watch for California to do it as well. There are predominantly democratic state. Gavin Newsom says he's willing to draw it such that Democrats pick up more seats to make up for what Texas is doing. We’ll see.
DICKERSON: Ed O’Keefe. Thank you so much, Ed.