(AURN News) — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Republicans of needing to “cheat to win” through redistricting efforts he said are designed to preserve political power.
“The Republicans have concluded that they need to cheat to win. They are in plain sight because they’re desperate to cling to power,” Jeffries said while responding to a reporter’s question about House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defending efforts to redraw Louisiana’s congressional map after thousands of ballots had already been cast.
Jeffries later added, “They are engineering a return to Jim Crow-like segregation tactics.”
He also said Republicans have already targeted six congressional districts represented by Black lawmakers.
Tennessee has adopted new congressional maps. Alabama is now using a map courts previously struck down as illegal, and Louisiana Republicans advanced a map today that critics say would shrink Black representation.
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., is also facing calls to resign after agreeing with Richmond radio host Rich Herrera, who told Jeffries to keep his “cotton-picking hands” off Virginia’s redistricting fight.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
