Padilla on redistricting effort: 'If Republicans were confident on their policy agenda, they'd be eager to defend it'

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) blasted Republicans for undertaking a middecade redistricting effort in Texas, saying the move reveals concerns about the party’s economic message ahead of the midterms.

“If Republicans were confident on their policy agenda, they'd be eager to defend it with the people and to defend at the ballot box next November,” Padilla said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

“But they know they're in trouble,” he continued. “And so they're trying to rig the system to hold on to power next November. That's what this redistricting move is really about.”

Texas Republicans proposed a congressional map last week designed to flip at least five Democratic seats to the GOP. The new lines, proposed at President Trump’s urging, would make it much harder for Democrats to seize control of the lower chamber in next year’s midterm elections. 

“Let’s understand why Donald Trump is asking for five more Republican seats out of Texas. It's because his policies, especially his economic policies, have been so bad,” Padilla said.

The California senator said the situation will get even more dire for Republicans once the effect of their “big, beautiful bill” kicks in and “people start losing their health care and their health care costs go up.”