The fight over Texas Republicans’ attempt to grabble five new GOP congressional seats out of the state’s congressional map is the most important story in the country right now. Amid everything else—the concentration camp operating within our borders, the snatch-and-grab arrests by plainclothes agents, the creeping military takeover of the District of Columbia, the open bribery flowing through the White House—what’s happening in Texas is the most pivotal moment of Trump’s second presidency.
Why? Because this is the story of how and where the power consolidates. The redistricting battle in Texas is not just about maps. It’s about whether there will be any free and fair elections left to fight over in 2028. And former Representative Beto O’Rourke is one of the few people standing between Trump and unchecked authoritarian control of the House.
I spoke to him as he prepared for a rally he may be legally barred from attending. He is also in court facing criminal contempt charges brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Texas Republicans are trying to bankrupt O’Rourke, silence everyone opposed to the move, and dissolve the voter registration organization he runs.
He’s still fighting. And he wants you to join him. (The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott says you should be arrested. What’s going on?
Well, Ken Paxton is saying that. Greg maybe sees it that way too. But yeah—Ken Paxton filed with the court in Tarrant County to encourage them to find me in criminal contempt. I think that hearing is later this month.
Like Joseph Goebbels said, you accuse your enemy of the thing you’re guilty of. And it works pretty effectively when you control all the levers of state power in Texas: the governor’s mansion, the attorney general’s office, the state legislature, and the court we’re in front of right now—which is an Abbott-appointed judge. So we’ll see what happens. But they’re trying to shut us down.
It’s worth pointing out that Ken Paxton is one of the most corrupt state officials we’ve had in Texas for a long time.
He was impeached for bribery. Like, literally, for the alleged crime of bribery. He was impeached by a majority of the state House—including, obviously, many Republican members of his own party.
As a Texan, I’ve been feeling completely discouraged. It feels like a losing battle. Is there a path forward? Is there a way this doesn’t end with a permanent Republican majority in the House?
Yeah, yeah. I mean—the odds aren’t great. I don’t know how long these Democrats are gonna hold out. You probably saw the same reporting I did—I haven’t had this confirmed by anybody—but they’re thinking about coming back for this next special session. I really hope that they do not. Given the stakes—and you’ve accurately described them—I think everyone has to do everything they possibly can. For them, that means holding out as long as they can, or not coming back after 13 or 14 days or whatever it’ll be.
There’s the power that [California Governor] Gavin Newsom has—as you know, on that one, he’s moving forward. They have a very small window within which to act, and he’s taking maximum advantage of it to redraw California’s congressional districts to maximize Democratic advantage. Potentially every single district in the state of California. There’s potential in Maryland, in Illinois, in New Jersey, in New York, and in other states as well. I think on every single front, we have to be fighting with everything that we have.
Because—just to expand on the point you made—if we fail to stop this steal in Texas, if we fail to win a majority in the House of Representatives in 2026, the consolidation of authoritarian power in the hands of Trump will be close to unstoppable. Maybe completely unstoppable. And I’ll never stop fighting, but that fight becomes just extraordinarily challenging after ’26 if we fail to win a majority.
What happens is, you know—he is more free to send more plainclothes federal agents, without badges or warrants, to sweep people. Could be immigrants. Could be citizens. Really could be anybody. Because they’ve suspended due process and other constitutional protections. That continues—and grows larger. You have his political opponents targeted for retribution, or vengeance, or even political violence.
And then I think it is far more likely that a Republican-majority Congress rolls out the red carpet for a third Trump term. That’s our future if we do not stand and fight right now. And it has to be everyone, everywhere who has any opportunity to mount any kind of fight. They gotta do it. And they gotta do it right now.
But—because you’re looking for some hope and optimism—let me share this: They’re doing all of this because they are in full panic. Should they lose the House, there will be accountability for the crimes and corruption. There will be a check on this lawlessness. There will be the prospect of free and fair elections in 2028. And they fear all of those things.
You saw the quorum break in 2021—none of this shit happened then. So why is it happening now? It’s because they understand the stakes as clearly as I do. And they’re going to fight tooth and nail to hold onto this tiny, narrow margin they’ve got in the House—because if they lose it, there are going to be real consequences for everything they’ve done. And there will be a check on their ability to continue to run roughshod over the country, the Constitution, and all of us.
What I’m worried about—as someone who’s voted for Democrats my whole life—is that Democrats have been unwilling to fight. I don’t want to say “fight dirty” and go back to “the high road.” And I don’t even want to call it the high road.
Oh my God—no, you’re exactly right. You diagnosed it. It’s the weak road. I mean, Merrick Garland had four years—had all the evidence necessary—to ensure that the American public and the U.S. justice system had everything it needed to make a decision on Donald Trump’s complicity and culpability in an attempt to overthrow a freely, fairly, and lawfully decided election in 2020. [Trump’s] incitement of violence—the insurrection attempt—remains the crime of the century. One of the greatest crimes in American history.
And with all the power of the Justice Department—at a time when, by the way, Democrats controlled not just the White House but the House and the Senate—there was literally nothing to show for it. The other side only cares about being in power. They could give a shit about what is right, what is legal, what is ethical, what is moral. They only care about being in power. And the results speak for themselves.
Trump has confidently disregarded federal court rulings, defied a coequal branch of government, dismantled congressionally chartered and mandated agencies and departments—another branch of government. He’s openly colluded with corrupt public officials like Eric Adams—a public quid pro quo everyone could see in broad daylight. That is power being used for evil ends. But it’s also a lesson for Democrats about how power can be used. One could imagine what it would look like if we used that power for good.
We didn’t push as hard as we could. We didn’t let them catch us trying. We didn’t go to the courts and let them slap us on the wrist. We didn’t test the absolute limits of presidential and congressional power. We held back. We could have passed voting rights—which would have prevented the fucking craziness we’re seeing in Texas right now: gerrymandering five districts. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act—which we had the power to pass in 2021—would’ve stopped that. We could’ve passed immigration reform—which would’ve prevented Trump from using that issue to beat us over the head throughout the 2024 campaign.
So you’re absolutely right. One: We have to stop this. Two: We have to be ruthless about winning power in 2026 and 2028. And three—as Mandela Barnes out of Wisconsin says: Once we win, we have to drive the car like we stole it. We have to run the tables on these guys. If we don’t, we’ll never hold power again. And it’s questionable whether we can even gain it in the first place, now that we squandered it when we last had it.
You got the most votes of any Democrat ever running for statewide office in Texas—and you did it running as an unapologetic progressive. Right now, the Democrat with the highest favorability rating in the country is Bernie Sanders. I know you had Republicans and independents cross the aisle to vote for you. So what do you say to Democrats who are scared to run as full-throated progressives?
I think people want to see candidates fight for them. They want to see people in public office fight for them. There’s a time and place for consensus, compromise, and collaboration. This is not one of those times. We are up against fascists. We are up against authoritarians. We are up against oligarchs.
And to your excellent point, this is not a question of the ideological spectrum. I don’t think people are making decisions based on your policy platform, or what form of universal health care you support. It’s: Will you stand and fight? Or will you submit? It’s an especially stark choice right now because you see the most powerful people in this country bending. Harvard is going to concede $500 million to the Trump administration—maybe as soon as today. Columbia, $200 million. Brown, $50 million. They’re going to come after UCLA for even more.
So these centers of independent academic and intellectual leadership are bending the knee. The largest law firms in the country are bending the knee. Jeff Bezos. Mark Zuckerberg. Tim Cook—literally genuflecting and giving the fucking president a 24-karat gold-plated iPhone. This is something you’d expect to see from some subservient industrialist in the 1930s, presenting a gift to Mussolini or Hitler—not in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 2025.
You’ve got Chuck Schumer bending the knee. We were in the middle of the federal funding fight earlier this year, and every single House member—except maybe one—stood strong. Most of the Senate Democrats were standing strong. It was a moment we needed to see a fight. Instead, he gave Trump and Elon Musk everything they wanted.
That’s the context in which we answer your question. We will be judged—by our fellow Americans in 2026 and 2028, and by future generations—not by what we said we believed but by what we did or failed to do in this moment of truth. What I try to remind people is that we’ve faced enormous odds before. We threw off the mightiest empire on the planet to secure our independence and ensure we wouldn’t be ruled by kings. We defeated the Confederacy—at the cost of 300,000 Union lives—to make sure one man could never own another. We defeated the divisions of the Third Reich, at extraordinary cost.
And how many Americans were imprisoned, beaten, or killed to win full civil and political rights—the Civil Rights Act of ’64, the Voting Rights Act of ’65? All of that is present in this moment. All of that sacrifice, that struggle, that service—we’ve inherited it. And it’s come down to this generation. We will either continue that noble tradition and preserve this country, or we’ll be the generation that loses what Lincoln called the last best hope of earth. That’s what animates me. That’s what animates everyone I know who’s in this fight right now. We’ve got to ring the alarm. We’ve got to make sure this moment doesn’t pass without bringing the full fight to it. That’s what so many of us are trying to do right now.
Last week, during the state Senate redistricting hearing, I heard someone say, “Don’t force us into taking up arms.” How much do you think about that possibility?
Everything they’re doing right now—the MAGA movement, Trump, Paxton—it’s all an effort to intimidate. And if you won’t willingly bend your knee, they’re gonna try to bend it for you. This political violence is not theoretical. It’s not something on the horizon. We are in the midst of it right now. We have to use our imagination—because they’re using theirs. And Trump’s been very open about it. He said 2024 will be the last election anyone needs to vote in. He said, on an open mic, “I’m gonna come for the homegrown next.”
So, yes—to answer your question—yes, we absolutely have to be concerned about this. Think about the generation from Lexington and Concord. The courthouse at Appomattox. Bloody Sunday at Selma. The beaches at Normandy. None of that was easy. We should not sell one another on the idea that this will be convenient—or that you can do this from the comfort of your home. That you just send $25 to a cause, or you tweet the right thing, or you have that one open, honest conversation with your family member, and then you’re done.
All of those things are probably necessary—but if you want to get into the fight right now, it’s not going to be easy. And it is going to come with risk, either to your freedom or your safety. We should be honest with one another about that. Those are the terms of this fight.
I would urge everyone on our side to maintain nonviolence as a virtue—to continue to do this peacefully and democratically—but to also be aware that the other side, as they always have, includes the armed and elected dogs of the Jim Crow South. That’s the kind of violence and intimidation we are up against now.
I really appreciate everything you said—especially the emphasis on staying nonviolent even in the face of violence. But I’ll tell you: I own a gun. There was a period where I asked myself, “Do I really need to have this around?” And now—especially living in Texas—I still don’t imagine ever using it, but it no longer feels ridiculous to have it.
Yeah. No, I get it. I wouldn’t judge anyone for how they’re trying to prepare for what is increasingly a lawless, unconstitutional administration in Washington, D.C. The thug that the president is—and the lawlessness he’s inspired—is leading people to threaten and, in some cases, carry out violence against their political opponents.
OK—but I want to get one last thing from you: a quick plug for this weekend. You’ve got a big rally in Texas. I was at the No Kings rally, but I’m worried the turnout this weekend won’t be the same. And I honestly think this rally is even more important. I know there are a thousand other big stories right now, but this—this is the story.
No, you’re right. You and I are on the same page. This is it. This is for all the marbles. We need to show up this Saturday at 11 a.m. on the statehouse steps—especially because they are trying to stop us from being able to do that.
Literally, I am in Tarrant County court being sued by Ken Paxton. He’s trying to stop me from speaking at rallies like this. He tried to stop me from speaking in Fort Worth last Saturday. He’s literally trying to shut me up. He’s trying to shut all of us up. They’re trying to put state legislators behind bars. They’re trying to bankrupt organizations that are registering people to vote. They’re trying to make us feel hopeless. They want us to believe this is inevitable—that as their power grows, and as they defy every protection and safeguard in the Constitution, resistance is futile. They want us to believe the fight is already lost.
And I just want to tell everyone this: They’re doing all of this because they are panicked. They are scared. They understand that if we refuse to be cowed—if, instead of bending the knee, we stand and fight—and if we succeed in stopping this theft of five congressional seats, if we win a majority in the House, then their stranglehold on power in America will be broken. And there’s nothing they fear more than that—because they understand what the consequences would be.
So showing up on Saturday is a profoundly powerful act of defiance, of strength, of solidarity. And now, more than ever—as they try everything they can to silence us and stop us before the fight even begins—now is the time to stand and be counted. There’s no better place to do that than at the epicenter of this fight: Austin, Texas, this Saturday, on the steps of the Capitol.
The post Beto O’Rourke Is Leading a Texas-Size Charge Against Trump appeared first on New Republic.
