State Labor Federations Team Up to Fight 'Corrupt, Rigged Redistricting' by Trump's GOP

State labor federations across the U.S. issued a joint statement Tuesday expressing solidarity with those fighting Trump-backed GOP gerrymandering efforts in Texas, warning that similar anti-democratic schemes could spread nationwide if they're allowed to succeed in the Lone Star State.

"We are at a pivotal moment in our country—the future of our unions, our democracy, and our freedoms is at stake," said the Texas AFL-CIO, California Federation of Labor Unions, Florida AFL-CIO, Illinois AFL-CIO, Missouri AFL-CIO, New York State AFL-CIO, Ohio AFL-CIO, and Washington State Labor Council.

President Donald Trump is "desperately trying to rig the rules in his favor by demanding a corrupt, rigged redistricting process in Texas, and he won't stop there," they added. "As labor leaders from across the country, we are in strong solidarity with Texas workers in this fight—because we know this will affect every single worker across the country."

The labor federations vowed to support "any and all efforts"—including retaliatory redistricting in blue states—to ensure workers' rights are protected.

"In our red states, we will fight for fair maps and strongly stand against the corrupt political actions in Texas, because we know any one of us could be next," they said. "If people are robbed of their voting rights in Texas and this corruption is allowed to grow, if Trump keeps his control of Congress, it will mean working people will pay the price. We urge every person of conscience to speak out, put workers over billionaires, and fight back alongside us."

The joint statement came days after Texas House Democrats left the state en masse to prevent Republicans from passing a gerrymandered map that could allow the GOP to flip five U.S. congressional seats in next year's midterms. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott subsequently threatened the Democratic lawmakers with arrest and expulsion from the Texas Legislature.

"Texas Republicans are trying to anoint themselves kings, just like Donald Trump taught them."

On Monday, Texas Democrats and Democratic allies in the U.S. Congress held a press conference at IBEW Local 701 headquarters in Warrenville, Illinois, where they vowed to keep up the fight in the face of Abbott's threats.

"I'm ready to be here for however long this takes," said state Rep. Aicha Davis (D-109), one of more than 50 Texas Democrats who left the state over the weekend. "I absolutely cannot allow for the people in my area and across Texas to lose their voice and their vote, and so I'm just willing to do whatever it takes."

Texas Republicans launched their mid-decade redistricting push under pressure from the Trump White House, which urged the state's political leaders to aggressively redraw its maps as part of a broader effort to preserve the GOP's majority in the U.S. House.

Trump is also looking beyond Texas to states such as Missouri and Ohio, where Republicans are considering their own Texas-style gerrymandering schemes that critics have characterized as brazen power grabs.

"Persuading voters on the merits of a highly unpopular agenda that hammers working families with the largest cuts to Medicaid and food aid in history, and showers the ultra-rich with huge tax breaks that add trillions of dollars to the national debt, is a tall order for Trump's servile coalition on Capitol Hill," Marilou Johanek wrote in a recent column for Ohio Capital Journal. "So rather than take a chance on a losing argument, Trump wants the fix to be in before any vote is cast in the pivotal election. Redrawing congressional districts to give lopsided partisan advantages to one party fits the bill."

Trump declared Tuesday that Republicans are "entitled" to five more congressional seats in Texas because he won the state by a large margin in 2024.

"Texas Republicans are trying to anoint themselves kings, just like Donald Trump taught them," the co-chairs of the Not Above the Law coalition said in a statement Tuesday. "Governor Greg Abbott and his allies have made it crystal clear that they believe they're above the law and beyond accountability to Texans. They want to use the power of the state to hunt down and arrest lawmakers whose only crime is defending fair representation, the Voting Rights Act, and the democratic process."