Among the many victories Democrats saw on Tuesday night was the passing of Prop 50 in California and, according to “The View” host Sunny Hostin, Democrats in other states “really need to pay attention to it” if they want to be successful in future elections.
Californians voted in favor of the amendment, which allows temporary changes to Congressional district maps as a response to partisan redistricting in Texas. Where Texas gerrymandered to secure five additional House seats, California picked up the same amount.
“I think that Democrats really need to pay attention to what Gavin Newsom did,” Hostin said. “He laid out the map for the gerrymander battle.”
The ABC host was quick to point out that North Carolina and Missouri each took additional seat recently, thanks to similar plays, while Ohio took two. So, in his speech on Tuesday night, Newsom called for New York, Illinois and Colorado to introduce similar legislation to voters, to “meet this moment head-on.”
“And I hope the Democrats do it,” Hostin said.
When host Joy Behar argued that California’s gerrymandering in response to Texas was simply “tit for tat,” Hostin pushed back, citing the potential fallout.
“It’s not tit for tat Joy, because it’s very important, because Donald Trump is tasking red states to basically steal the House,” she said.
Host Sara Haines conceded that, in this case, the gerrymandering was called for, but warned that in future cases, the “pendulum” swing of parties doing something because their opponents did it may not benefit everyone (Haines pointed to Trump’s call to end the filibuster this week as an example).
At that, host Ana Navarro chimed in, wondering how else the Democrats could really take on Republican gerrymandering.
“Republicans started it, and I don’t know how Democrats can just be there, like, with their hands down while they’re getting beaten up,” she said.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
