TX Rep. Trey Martinez on Fighting Fire with Fire

About this episode

Texas State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer discusses the fight against GOP gerrymandering and the national stakes of redistricting.

In this episode, we sit down with Texas State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, one of the Democrats who fled the Lone Star State to break quorum and stop an outrageous GOP gerrymander that would have handed Republicans five extra congressional seats. Rep. Martinez Fischer takes us inside the fight: from Governor Greg Abbott’s threats of fines and arrests, to a bomb threat in Illinois that forced Democrats to evacuate, to California’s bold counter-move to redraw its own maps in response. We talk about what it’s like to literally leave home for democracy, the national stakes of redistricting, and why he believes Democrats must be willing to fight fire with fire.

People in this episode

Guest: Trey Martinez Fischer

Topics covered

• gerrymandering
• redistricting
• political strategy
• democracy
• Texas politics

Keywords

• gerrymander
• Texas
• Democrats
• redistricting
• politics
• Governor Abbott
• California

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Texas, California, Lone Star State, Illinois

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