On Monday’s edition of The Lead, CNN host Jake Tapper once again utterly embarrassed himself on the Texas redistricting issue. While he falsely claimed previously that Republicans were “the worst offenders when it comes to gerrymandering” and singled out Texas, this time he tried to go toe-to-toe with Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R). Tapper showed off a profound ignorance of the difference between state and federal elected positions as he tried to suggest Abbott was being a hypocrite for telling state Democrats in the legislature to do their jobs. Abbott wasted no time putting Tapper in his place.
After noting that “The law is pretty clear that state legislators in Texas denying the majority party a quorum can be fined and can even be arrested,” Tapper proceeded to whine to Abbott about how he’s “taking the unusual step of asking for Democratic leader Gene Wu…to be actually removed from office.”
“What gives you the right to override the will of his voters who elected him?” Tapper griped. To which Abbott clapped back by noting that Wu was refusing to do his constitutionally required duty:
What I have the authority to do as governor is to require these members of the legislature to follow the Constitution, which is very clear on its face where it says that these legislators must act on bills before them. They're refusing to perform their constitutional duty. And that's exactly why I filed that lawsuit in the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court has required Gene Wu to respond to that. And the Texas Supreme Court is considering that right now. And what I'm seeking to do in that case is to have Gene Wu removed from office for failing to perform his constitutional requirement.
Overconfident in either his purported intelligence or inadvertently betrayed by an incompetent researcher on his team, Tapper attempted to suggest Abbott was being a hypocrite when it came to Texas politicians not doing their jobs; citing the curious case of Texas Congresswoman Kay Granger (R).
Unfortunately for Tapper, he came off looking completely ignorant of the difference between state and federal positions and the authority the Texas governorship had, as he was quickly schooled by Abbott:
TAPPER: So you had a -- your state had a congresswoman, Kay Granger, who tragically developed dementia. And then in the middle of her, I guess, second year in office in her final term, she and her family just checked her into a dementia center in Texas, and nobody represented that congressional district for like six to eight months or something. And I don't recall you saying anything then.
ABBOTT: Well, I have the authority to apply the Texas Constitution to these members of the Texas House of Representatives. With regard to members of Congress, that's going to be up to the congressional delegation and to the federal laws of which the state would have no control over. What I do have control over, Jake, is what we're dealing with right now.
There was also the simple fact that Granger’s team hid the Congresswoman’s medical condition and location from everyone as they surreptitiously continued to run the office as if everything was normal. Thus Abbott couldn’t be blamed for believing a lie told to him when he had no reason to question Granger’s team at the time.
There’s also a pretty big difference between Wu consciously deciding to leave the state for a political motivation and Granger who was put in an assisted living facility by others.
Tapper closed out the interview by suggesting to Abbott that he would be responsible for Democratic Party gerrymandering in states like California and New York. Abbott shot back by noting that those states had already gerrymandered their districts long ago and had little more to cut; and if they did, Texas would eliminate 10 Democratic districts:
TAPPER: We have Democrats in California and New York and other states saying, well, if Governor Abbott does this in Texas, we're going to add five Democratic seats. Are you not worried at all about a redistricting, gerrymandering arms race going on? And theoretically, is it not just better for voters to be picking their politicians instead of politicians to be picking their voters through gerrymandering?
ABBOTT: Well, to be clear, listen, all those big blue states, they've already gerrymandered. Look at the map of Illinois. Look at the map of California, New York, and Massachusetts, and so many other blue states. They gerrymandered a long time ago. They got nothing left with regard to what they can do. And -- and know this, if -- if California tries to gerrymander five more districts, listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our state. We can play that game more than they can because they have fewer Republican districts in their states.
So, according to Tapper, Democrats don’t gerrymander and when they do, it’s the Republicans’ fault.
What a clown.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
August 11, 2025
5:25:24 p.m. Eastern(…)
TAPPER: The law is pretty clear that state legislators in Texas denying the majority party a quorum can be fined and can even be arrested, but now you and your administration are taking the unusual step of asking for Democratic leader Gene Wu, who we played a clip from a little while ago, to be actually removed from office. What gives you the right to override the will of his voters who elected him?
ABBOTT: So, I think the will of the people who elected him are not being met right now. The people who elected him as well as the other Democrats who've run from their duty, they didn't elect them to run off to Illinois. They elected them to go to Austin, Texas and cast votes as required by the Constitution.
What I have the authority to do as governor is to require these members of the legislature to follow the Constitution, which is very clear on its face where it says that these legislators must act on bills before them. They're refusing to perform their constitutional duty. And that's exactly why I filed that lawsuit in the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court has required Gene Wu to respond to that. And the Texas Supreme Court is considering that right now. And what I'm seeking to do in that case --
TAPPER: Yeah.
ABBOTT: -- is to have Gene Wu removed from office for failing to perform his constitutional requirement.
TAPPER: So you had a -- your state had a congresswoman, Kay Granger, who tragically developed dementia. And then in the middle of her, I guess, second year in office in her final term, she and her family just checked her into a dementia center in Texas, and nobody represented that congressional district for like six to eight months or something. And I don't recall you saying anything then.
ABBOTT: Well, I have the authority to apply the Texas Constitution to these members of the Texas House of Representatives. With regard to members of Congress, that's going to be up to the congressional delegation and to the federal laws of which the state would have no control over. What I do have control over, Jake, is what we're dealing with right now.
TAPPER: Yeah.
ABBOTT: And that is I called a special session, I put items on the agenda, and by Texas law, those runaway Democrats are required to act on that agenda. They're failing to do their duty. So there's a violation of state law that allows me to seek the removal of those who've abdicated their responsibility.
Let's play this out. If they do not get removed by this court, this process is going to continue. I'm going to call a special session after special session after special session.
They could remain in hiding for literally years tying the hands of the state of Texas --
TAPPER: Well --
ABBOTT: -- from performing essential government needs. That cannot be allowed and that's exactly why I should prevail and my lawsuit to have this Democrat removed from office because they are denying Texas the ability to conduct business.
TAPPER: I mean not entirely though, right, because I mean, there are filing deadlines for candidates in September and November and then in March of course would be the primaries in Texas so they really -- I mean, I'm not advocating this, but they really only need to wait you out until the fall.
ABBOTT: Sorry Jake, that's not the case. Because I can call a special session at any time to have these districts redrawn. And even if we get to and beyond the filing deadline, we are still going to redraw these maps. Before we've done this, what we can do again, and that is have two different elections. One for all the other candidates on the ballot, one for members of Congress. And that's exactly what we'll do this time.
If they think all they have to do is wait it out until November, December, they're wrong. I'm gonna do this for the next two years and they're going to have to basically take up residency in Illinois, they might as well start voting in Illinois.
TAPPER: Well let me ask you just this final question sir as a bigger picture item which is what's unusual about this is that you're attempting to do it in 2025 as opposed to waiting till the end of the decade as normally is when the redistricting takes place. You've explained the Supreme Court decision that led you to do this, but what's going on obviously is not happening in Texas, it's not happening in a vacuum.
We have Democrats in California and New York and other states saying, well, if Governor Abbott does this in Texas, we're going to add five Democratic seats. Are you not worried at all about a redistricting, gerrymandering arms race going on?
And theoretically, is it not just better for voters to be picking their politicians instead of politicians to be picking their voters through gerrymandering?
ABBOTT: Well, to be clear, listen, all those big blue states, they've already gerrymandered. Look at the map of Illinois. Look at the map of California, New York, and Massachusetts, and so many other blue states. They gerrymandered a long time ago. They got nothing left with regard to what they can do. And -- and know this, if -- if California tries to gerrymander five more districts, listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our state. We can play that game more than they can because they have fewer Republican districts in their states.
TAPPER: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, don't be a stranger. Thanks for popping by. Really appreciate it.