BREAKING: HUGE news ROCKS House majority
I'm joined now by Curtis Hubard who is. the spokesperson for Coloradoatans for a. level playing field. Curtis, we have. some big news, news that I did not. expect as far as redistricting is. concerned in your state of Colorado. Can. you explain what's going on here? >> Yes. Um, and thanks for having me and. thanks for your interest in what we're. doing in Colorado. This morning, we uh. announced that we intend to go to. Colorado voters this November uh with a. temporary measure that would suspend. independent redistricting in the state. in response to what Trump and MAGA.
Republicans are doing uh across the. nation with their mid-deing. Uh and we would have voters uh approve a. new map uh that could see Democrats take. as many as three additional seats here. in Colorado uh beginning in 2028. >> Okay. So, um, in terms of this whole. process playing itself out, can you talk. about what is needed to get this passed? >> Yeah. Uh, so the first step is to go. through the title board in Colorado and. the title board essentially sets the. language that would appear on the ballot.
that voters would see. If and when we. get through that process, we have to. gather 125,000 roughly signatures from. registered voters in Colorado before. August 3rd. and then wheel will appear. on the November 2026 ballot. >> Was there any um discussion about doing. this in advance of the 2026 election so. that it could apply for the 2026. election or it just wasn't in the cards. timeline timeline wise? >> Yeah, the the timeline just didn't work. as far as um what we have in place in.
Colorado. And so this is the best that. we can do. And as we've seen the. Republican attacks uh you know in Texas, in Ohio, in Missouri, in North Carolina, next month in or in April, in Florida, we felt like we had to fight back, that. we had to give voters in Colorado an. opportunity to step up uh and say enough. is enough. >> So you're bringing this directly to the. voters in Colorado, not dissimilar to. what happened in my state of California, not dissimilar to what's happening in. Virginia. Can you talk about the.
legislature and governor's role in this. um once you get the requisite number of. signatures? >> Yeah, in this uh process it is a. citizens initiative. So they don't have. a role other than we fully expect um. them to be supportive uh of the process. of voters having a say here uh in. Colorado. But this citizens initiative. goes through the title board. We gather. the signatures and then voters decide in. November. So, was the map already. already determined and that's what.
voters are giving their signatures for. and then that map will be automatically. enacted if it's approved in November. >> Correct. And that map would be in place. for 2028 and for 2030 and then we've. written our initiative so that we would. go back to independent redistricting. after the 2030 census for the 2032. congressional cycle. So, not to get. ahead of ourselves here, but in the. event that this passes and look that. that is the same structure again as what. we saw in my state of California,
if if this is able what is the longer. term solution that you would like to see. given the fact that you know this. referendum would be temporary? >> Yeah, good question. Um, the longer term. solution is for a uh congressional. action, right? so that every state uh is. operating with the same set of rules. Great so that one side can't decide to. play by one set of rules uh and those. that are playing by a different or a. different set are disadvantaged. Uh so. each of our measures actually calls on.
uh Congress to take action but we're. committed to independent redistricting. Like we understand in Colorado that that. is the right way to go. But when we're. faced with an emergency like we are now. in terms of what Trump and the MAGA. Republicans are doing, we felt like we. needed to step up and respond. So, I. want to ask some questions about the. current legislature and governor in. Colorado. But first, I feel like I would. be uh remiss not to not to give some. information to people who are looking to. add their signature to this effort to. get this on the November ballot. So,
where can they go if they live in. Colorado? >> Yeah, thank you um for that. Uh we have. a website Coloradoadons for a level. playing field. Um you can find that just. Google Coloradoadons for a level playing. field. You can donate there. You can. sign up uh to stay informed there. And. we will then be reaching out to people. as we move through this process. >> Excellent. I'm going to put that link on. the screen and in the post description. as well. Well, so for anybody who's. looking uh if you're in Colorado and you. want to help move this effort forward, which I could not recommend highly.
enough, please go ahead and search in. the post description of this video so. that you can add your name uh to the. list. Um Curtis, I had I had interviewed. Governor Polus um a couple months back. and tried to um figure out whether what. his gauge his level of interest in doing. something like this and he didn't have. much interest in in participating in a. redraw uh very much in the same way that. the other states who jumped right in had. done. Did that play into why you all. chose to go the the referendum route as.
opposed to congressional as opposed to. legislative action? No, I think um our. thinking is really that it's a decision. that voters should make and that that's. a small D democratic effort um that. really kind of fits within the spirit um. of how Colorado thinks about this. process. And so that if voters. collectively step up and say, "Hey, we've had enough and we're not just. going to sit back here with one hand. tied behind our back." Um that it sends. a message nationally. Um, also it's.
important to know that the two uh main. candidates running to replace Governor. Polus, that's Senator Michael Bennett. and our current attorney general, Phil. Weiser, both running for the Democratic. nomination, have expressed support for. um this process. They have not come out. in support of what we're doing uh to my. knowledge yet. Um but they support the. idea. And uh conventional wisdom in. Colorado is that whoever wins our June. 30th primary um will go on to be elected.
in November. So we expect that whoever. is going to be the Democratic nominee uh. in November uh will be a champion for. what we're trying to do. >> Yeah, I I I agree. Um, I haven't had the. opportunity to interview Michael. Bennett, but I did speak with Phil. Weiser, and he expressed full support. allowing Colorado to be an arrow in the. quiver of of the the Democratic effort. to counteract what Republicans are. doing. And to that end, you know, we. have now seen numerous states, California, Virginia, now Colorado, engage in this process where they're.
putting this question to the voters. What what is your reaction to the fact. that this is what blue states are doing. and yet the efforts that we've seen by. red states are happening unilaterally? It's Greg Abbott deciding that uh that. he's going to a seed to Trump's demands. to add five seats because Trump felt. entitled to them. It is Ohio doing it by. fiat, North Carolina doing it by fiat, Missouri doing it by fiat. And of. course, uh we can expect that Ronda. Santis is going to do the same. Yeah, I think that that is exactly um.
seeing how it's being done elsewhere, I. think shows voters who believe in uh our. democracy, who want to step up and. defend our democracy saying dee. democracy saying, "Hey, wait. I want to. raise my voice and I want to say this. isn't right and I'm going to equip my. side, my state with a voice to fight. back." Do you think given the fact that. Colorado is now moving on this, other. states that have not yet decided to move. are dropping the ball? I'm talking about.
other blue states that haven't joined. the ranks of Colorado, Virginia, California, um, who have the ability to. serve as something of a bull work. against this Republican overreach are. dropping the ball by not throwing their. hat in the ring. >> Yeah. So, my attention has been almost. exclusively focused on what we're doing. here in Colorado. So, I have general. ideas of what's going on in other. states. What I can say uh is that we. felt strongly enough about what Trump. and his MAGA allies were doing that we.
just couldn't sit back anymore and that. we wanted to come up with a plan that. allowed Colorado voters to step forward. and say enough is enough. We're going to. level the playing field. So, that's what. we decided to do here in Colorado. Have. you collaborated with any anybody in any. other blue state who's looking to. possibly do something similar that we've. not yet heard from? >> No, we have not. >> Is there is that something that you'd be. willing to do if there's any other. states that again haven't yet joined the. ranks of of the states that are moving. but but but maybe don't know the.
structure of how to do it? Yeah, I'm. always happy to have conversations with. people and as you look at what Trump and. his MAGA allies are doing, I think the. case is made pretty compellingly um that. we need to step up. um even if Colorado. uh or when Colorado passes these. measures um the threat to the Voting. Rights Act of 1965 um that Republicans. uh have launched, the work that's coming. down the pike in Florida, um it it still. tilts the playing field in their.
advantage. So, I think it's important. that other states look at this and. understand uh that we need to fight fire. with fire. And and I think that's such a. great point is um for anybody who. watches my channel, you're probably. familiar with the Cala case that's going. to be handed down at some point, which. is the Supreme Court's effort to revisit. section two of the Voting Rights Act. That's the case that mandates or that's. the the provision in the Voting Rights. Act that mandates these majority. minority districts, these opportunity. districts. And once section two of the. voting rights act is gutted, which it is.
likely to be, then then, you know, estimates of between a dozen or two. dozen or even 30 seats um might swing. based on the fact that that these red. states can draw out these districts. where, you know, you can you can elect a. black or brown member of Congress. And. so these moments right now where we're. able to take advantage of the the few. opportunities that we do have like the. one in Colorado to redraw these maps to. counteract what will be a deluge of. Republican advantage uh is going to be.
essential. So again, I would highly. recommend for anybody who's watching. right now if you're looking to support. uh support this effort in Colorado where. we can get a massive three more seats if. if I'm if I'm remembering that Curtis, three more seats out of the map than we. had before. Um that will go a long way. And look, we're we're looking at the. House right now where the difference. between, you know, Leader Jeff and uh uh. Leader Johnson is just, you know, one or. two seats. Um that really underscores. the need to get every single seat that.
we can. So again, I'm going to put the. link uh to that website right here on. the screen and also in the in the post. description. Curtis, thank you uh for. the work you're doing. It is absolutely. necessary and for uh for taking the time. today. I appreciate it. >> You're welcome. And thanks for your. interest. Uh, and we look forward to. talking to you down the road as we uh. move on and eventually win in November.
