O’Rourke urges Democrats to fight ‘fire with fire’ in redistricting battle

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) called on his fellow Democrats to fight “fire with fire” as Republicans in his state move forward with an effort to alter Texas’s congressional lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” O’Rourke said Democrats need to start playing the same game as Republicans and stop worrying only about doing what is right.

“I think it's time that we match fire with fire. I think Democrats in the past too often have been more concerned with being right than being in power. And we have seen Republicans only care about being in power, regardless of what is right,” O’Rourke said in the interview.

In a rare mid-decade redistricting effort, Texas state lawmakers are expected to consider new congressional lines during a special session of the Texas legislature, which GOP Gov. Greg Abbott called. The effort to redraw the Texas map has been made at the request of President Trump, who aims to bolster the GOP’s slim House majority to ensure that Republicans maintain control of the lower chamber during his final two years of his second term. 

In a call to Texas Republicans on Tuesday morning, the president urged lawmakers to draw the districts in a way that would allow Republicans to flip five Democratic seats to the GOP.

Trump also said that he would be “OK” with blue-leaning states, such as New York and California, potentially doing the same to increase the number of seats for Democrats. 

“I think we’ll get five. And there could be some other states we’re going to get another three, or four or five in addition,” Trump said Tuesday. “Texas would be the biggest one.”

O’Rourke — who unsuccessfully ran for senator, governor and president — praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for suggesting that he could pursue a similar approach in his state.

“I think that Democrats have been so scared of being branded as hypocrites or coloring outside of the lines that it has absolutely paralyzed them in this struggle for power in America. You don't see the other side worrying about any of that at all, Donald Trump defying the Constitution, the rule of law, the courts, trying to dismantle our very democracy in front of our eyes right now where we sit,” O’Rourke said.

“We have got to fight back. We cannot roll over. We cannot play dead. We cannot submit to them, as Democrats for far too long have done.”