BREAKING: BOMBSHELL news ROCKS Trump ahead of midterms

This is Democracy Watch, Mark. We have. bombshell good news coming out of. Virginia. I'll give you the honors. Can. you talk about the news that just broke? Yeah, Brian. This is fantastic news. As. a citizen of the Commonwealth of. Virginia, I am pleased to announce that. the redistricting. measure that was on the ballot, it. passed. So, Virginians are going to have. a new map in time for 2026. It's going. to mean four more Democratic seats. as we roll forward into the midterms. All right. So,

I don't think that this will happen, but. I want to ask what happens in the event. that Republicans use their one last. option here, which is to appeal up to. the Virginia Supreme Court. Can you talk. about the options that are on the table? Yeah, so look, my law firm and I, we are. still in court and we are like full. speed ahead in making sure that this. result sticks. The Republicans have a. series of lawsuits. I wish it was just. one lawsuit. They've got a whole bunch. of lawsuits that they filed that, you.

know, are in various stages of here and. there to try to block it in the first. instance and when that failed, to try to. now undo it. But here's the thing, you. know, the courts in Virginia, like every. place else, are going to look at these. results and ask themselves, number one, what is the law? What does the. Constitution say? And this is the the. process for changing the Constitution in. Virginia. So, I think just on the. merits, there's not really anything to. what the Republicans are claiming. But. then the second thing is, you know, they're going to look at the results and.

they're going to say, are we really. going to after a vote, after the people. of the state of Virginia came out and. voted in overwhelming numbers to adopt. this, are we really now going to reverse. it? And the answer to that is no. So, yes, there is still important cleanup. work to be done. There is still. important legal work to be done tomorrow. morning in canvas locations and counties. all throughout the Commonwealth. People. at my law firm and others will be out. making sure that there is no mischief. going on there. We'll obviously run.

through the tape in these court cases. But Brian, it is a night that we can. celebrate great news for democracy, great news for Democrats, a big night. for Hakeem Jeffries, and you know, and. the and the effort to to push this. through. Abigail Spanberger, the. Democratic governor, you know, they got. a lot of criticism, but in the end, like. Gavin Newsom, they pulled it off. And I. want to note that again, this stuff. wouldn't happen if we didn't have. fighters like you and your team who are. litigating this stuff in the courts.

There the political stuff. notwithstanding, we need lawyers who are. actually going to be fighters. You and. your team are are the the the peak among. them. So, a small step that everybody. watching right now can take to support. that work, to help elevate Mark's voice, Mark's profile, and to support the work. that they do in the courts is to. subscribe to Democracy Docket, which by. the way, already. released their their coverage of what. we're seeing right now happen in. Virginia. So, um whether you're looking. to support the work that they do in the. media space or the work that they do in.

the courts, the best way that you can. show that support is to go ahead and. subscribe. So, I'm going to put that. link right here on the screen and also. in the post description of this video. Mark, I have heard all of the the. protest from Republicans online who. claim that okay, now we have a likely. 10-1 map coming in Virginia, and. Virginia is closer than that map would. suggest. And so, what would your. response be to those people who are. suddenly finding their voice when it. comes to partisan gerrymanders only as. it relates to Virginia?

Look, if if Republicans want to do away. with partisan gerrymandering, they can. support the legislation that Hakeem. Jeffries and Chuck Schumer and the. Democrats in Congress have introduced to. ban partisan gerrymandering. Like we. didn't hear any complaints from the. Republicans when Donald Trump was. forcing Texas to do this. We didn't hear. any complaint from Republicans when they. were redrawing maps. in Kansas City to do away with uh to. basically break that city into a. thousand little pieces through our four. three different pieces. We didn't hear. any of their concerns when they were.

gerrymandering in North Carolina. Like the only time we've heard any. Republicans express concern about. partisan gerrymandering was in. California. and then in Virginia, which by the way. are the two states where it was actually. the people the people in both of those. states actually voted on it. So it's not. like these were backroom map deals, you. know, of politicians. You know, I went. out and I voted on Saturday. I voted. early and I voted yes and and a majority.

of Virginians voted yes. I know when it. was in California, you were a big part. of leading that effort. I hope everybody. supports your work by subscribing to. this channel and staying informed on. everything that's going on in in the. world of politics and law and and. culture. But but Brian, the Republicans, they didn't have to say about any of. those states. And guess what? Now as Ron. DeSantis looks at what he's going to do. in Florida, where where are those. voices? Have you heard anything from. Kevin Kiley complaining about what.

what's going on in what's going on in. Florida? Have you heard anything from. the the congressional delegation the. Republican congressional delegation of. Virginia about what's going on what may. go on in Florida? No. So it's all a. bunch of hypocrisy. If they want to ban. all partisan gerrymandering, they're. going to have partners with Democrats do. it. But it's not going to be that we. only we only. stand down in states that Democrats. control. Those days are over. Let me. just tell you something. If you think. the days of Democrats playing by one set.

of rules and Republicans playing by. another, you're kidding yourself. Yeah, and I think that's the perfect point. here is Republicans had nothing to say. when it was just the Republicans. gerrymandering the map because Donald. Trump came out and broadcast that he. felt he was entitled to five more seats. in Texas. That was no problem. What. their problem is is not with the fact. that that Democrats are are redrawing. these maps, it's that it's that. Democrats aren't unilaterally disarming. And and by the way, I almost get why. Republicans would just assume that this. was baked in, and that's because.

Democrats have largely hewed to this. idea that, you know, okay, we can just. defer to, you know, good governance and our institutions and. norms. And and that would be how we kind of. operate while the Republicans run. roughshod over democracy as a whole. And. I'm glad to see that there are finally. Democrats who are in office right now. who recognize the urgency of the moment. that we're in. Democrats like Gavin. Newsom who saw this thing through to the.

end. By the way, before it was, you. know, the the politically sexy thing to. do, saw this thing through to the end in. a state that that where there was a. million reasons to have not done it. Then for Abigail Spanberger and and. state senator. Lucas to have done the same thing along. with the other Democrats in in Virginia. to have seen this thing through to the. end. And and so I guess my question here. is what would your message be to other. Democrats across the country in states. that are even bluer than Virginia? And. Virginia is no, you know, Virginia is. not the bluest state in the country by.

any stretch of the imagination. And so. what would your message be to these. Democrats in New Jersey, in New York, in. all of these other. states like Colorado where we have a. little bit more upside because they're. even bluer, but we haven't yet taken. full advantage of the maps to fight fire. with fire? Now look, the Republicans are not going. to back away from their strategy. So. Democrats can't let up now. There is no. There is no unilateral disarmament in. this world. We need to be as aggressive. on our side as they are ruthless on. their side. And by the way, I want to.

give a plug for people who have not. already done so to pre-order Brian's. book. Because Brian actually talks about. the fact that when Democrats take power. at the federal level, when they take. power at the federal level, we need to. play by the same set of rules that. Republicans have. Now, that doesn't mean. graft, that doesn't mean corruption, that doesn't mean illegality, it doesn't. mean any of that. But what it does mean. is using the levers of power. to do the bidding of the American public. rather than the bidding of the Trump.

family and his and his friends. So, please, join me right now in. pre-ordering that book. I've not only. pre-ordered ordered it, I have written. the forward for it, the first time I've. ever written a forward for a book. because this one's so important for you. to pre-order. And look, my preference is. you always get it from an independent. bookseller, but if you don't, you got my. permission to go get it from Amazon or. wherever else. Most important thing is. you pre-order it. And I'm going to put. the link to pre-order that book, which. is called The Day After, right here on. the screen and also in the post. description of this video. It's a huge.

help to pre-order the book, and you can. also see on that same landing page the. dates for the book tour. So, if you live. in DC or New York or Chicago, San. Francisco, or Los Angeles, please grab a ticket and come see me. talk in person. And if you're in DC, I'll be there with Brian. We'll be there. You know, Brian is a big. star, so you'll you'll want to you'll. want to you know, hear from him, but I. promise you I'll be there, and so I'll. be happy to to talk to any of you if you. sign up for the one in DC, and Brian may.

even invite me to some of the other. ones. Yeah, that's it. Um okay, but Mark, I want to go back to. this question that we had discussed. before, and that is a message that you. would send to these other Democratic. governors, for example, who haven't yet. uh seen the full upside of this strategy. play out. Look, it's good policy, it's. good politics. Yep. And we need you to. do it. I mean, the fact is this whole. thing has been a calamity for Donald. Trump. And what that means is that if. you are on the fight side, if you are on. the side that Gavin Newsom's on, you're. on the side that Abigail Spanberger's.

on, you're on the side that frankly. Hakeem Jeffries has done a great job, you know, marshaling opposition to what. Republicans are doing and also leading. the effort here in in these states. If. you're on that side, it is not just that. you are going to get better results on. policy, but it's really good politics. I. mean, Gavin Newsom has has shot to the, you know, shot to the moon over over. what he's done. And my prediction is. Abigail Spanberger is going to see the. same thing right now. You know, people. have been on her and criticizing her,

but I'll tell you what, no one. But I'll tell you what, there's nothing. Americans like more than a winner. And. Abigail Spanberger is a winner tonight. and Donald Trump is the biggest loser. It's also worth noting here the. importance of this strategy, especially. in light of two things that are coming. down the pipe. And that is. section two of the Voting Rights Act, that case, the Cale case. We're. expecting any day now the Supreme Court. to issue a ruling in this case and it's. largely believed that the Supreme Court.

is going to gut section two of the. Voting Rights Act, which means that all. of these black opportunity districts. will be. no longer mandated by the Voting Rights. Act. And so these Republican-led states. can redraw their maps and eliminate. these black opportunity districts. And. the second is that we have the census. coming up in 2030. And we're seeing. we're going to see a lot of population. movement from these big blue liberal. bastions, these states that Democrats. have control in, down to the Sunbelt for. example, where Republicans are largely. in control. And we've seen the extent to.

which they're willing to redraw the maps. in their favor. And just like they're. doing it right now, they'll do it even. more when they have. added electoral votes. So can you talk. about the fact that this is actually a. proactive strategy in light of the fact. that we have we likely do have some bad. news coming down the pipe. Look, here's the deal. Politics is a game of inches. It's not, you know, a lot of people think that. politics is about landslides. Even the. landslides in this country are not. landslides. You know, it's not like it's. not like you've got people winning by 20.

points, 30 points, you know, in. competitive elections. And so, each one. of these seats matters. You know, you. look at you look at what the majority. that the Republicans have right now in. the house. And you know, depending on. the day and who's resigned, you know, it's three seats, it's four seats, maybe. it's five seats. But like it's truly. seat by seat, hand-to-hand combat. And. so, you know, whether it is the fact. that Republicans are going to take their. next shot in Florida. Whether it is. that, you know, you have the census.

coming up. Whether it is that if the. Supreme Court rules, you know, the wrong. way in the Colay case, you could see. Republican legislatures in the deep. south gerrymander, you know, a black. citizens take, you know, dilute their. voting power by by by by gerrymandering. further. Or frankly, it's Donald Trump. seizing ballots or trying to change the. rules of who can vote by mail. All of. these things. are critically important because each. one of them. can be the difference maker between who.

wins and who loses and who controls. Congress and who doesn't and ultimately. who controls the presidency because of. course the Electoral College is also. affected by the the census. So, look, you know, my message to you is take the. night and celebrate Virginia. And then. tomorrow, recommit yourself to the hard. work because the hard work is still in. front of us. Like Donald Trump tomorrow. morning will still be in office. Donald. Trump tomorrow will still be going after. his political opponents using the. Department of Justice. Donald Trump. tomorrow will still be scheming with.

governors to try to figure out how to. screw you out of your right to vote. And. in some states like Florida, how to. screw you out of fair districts. So, like we cannot let up and we cannot. assume that because we've had a victory. here or they've had a setback there, that we are, you know, we're inevitably. going to win the midterm elections. Right now, Republicans are very. unpopular, Donald Trump's very. unpopular, and you know, things are. lining up well. But, there's a lot of. hard work that has to take place between.

now and then. That's the work that I do. in the courts. It's the work I try to do. in speaking out. It's the work that. Brian does in speaking out. And it. frankly, it's the work he did in writing. this book, which is why I recommended it. earlier. Because part of the message of. that book is that when you gain power, you need to use that power. You need to. be prepared to use that power. We can. complain all we want about Project 2025. and Donald Trump, but the fact is they. came in with a plan to execute an. authoritarian.

vision, and that's what they're doing. And Brian in this book is laying out. what it is Democrats need to be prepared. to do. So, again, I just ask you to. subscribe to it. I'd ask you to sign up. for democracy docket. I'd ask you to. celebrate for tonight the victory in. Virginia. Perfect place to leave off. Again, I'm going to put the link to. democracy docket right here on the. screen. If you want, again, to support the. invaluable work that Mark and his team. are doing in the courts by protecting. our rights and actually showing some. fight where there has been so little.

fight in the past, again, a small step. we can all take to show that support is. to subscribe to democracy docket. And of. course, if you'd like to buy. pre-order the new book, The Day After, I'm going to put that link on the screen. and in the post description as well. I'm. Brian Tyler Cohen. I'm Mark Elias. This is Democracy Watch. >> [music].