Rand Paul: Redistricting Is Going To Lead To Violence In Our Country, People Will Feel They’re Not Represented
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the only Republican to cross the aisle in support of the resolution thus far, joins MS NOW’s “The 11th Hour” to discuss why he believes “the danger is from within, not from without.”
STEPHANIE RUHLE, MS NOW HOST: Well, then it sounds like this was ill-conceived from the start. I want to ask you about Virginia, because Virginia voters last night approved a new redistricting map that could net Democrats up to four additional House seats. I want to get your take on this because the president and other Republicans have already said what happened last night was rigged. But this redistricting bonanza has been going on on both sides for quite some time. SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Yeah. I fear, and I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, I fear that it’s going to lead to violence in our country. I think when people feel like the — the voting system doesn’t work or they’re not represented, I mean, Virginia is very much a divided state. So is Texas. So is California. Texas, and California, a little more dominant, you know, than Virginia. Virginia’s almost evenly split. And right now it’s six-five. That kind of represents Virginia. Sometimes it’s six Republicans, five Democrats, sometimes reverse. But 10 to one will leave a lot of Republicans feeling disenfranchised, the same way Democrats, which comprise maybe 40 percent of Texas, are going to feel disenfranchised to have virtually no representatives. The commissions, I think, have been a good idea where Virginia had a commission that created their districts. It’s not perfect. But six to five sort of represents Virginia. And so I fear that when we redistrict things, in the end, it won’t be practically good. It looks like it’s going to be a wash. And if Florida does it, it’s going to be almost 14 new on one side and 14 new on the other side. And all we’re going to have is everybody in those states are going to be unhappy and you’re going to get the same result. But you’ll have sort of spoiled the system such that gerrymandering was always a problem, but now it’s just become disgusting.
