Abbott Says He Could Make Redistricting Fight Last Years

Democrats and Republicans attacked each other Sunday over the congressional redistricting battle in Texas, with Gov. Greg Abbott threatening to make the fight go on for years if that's what it takes to ensure his party wins. On the other side of the aisle, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker got personal in response to the Republican effort. The rhetoric included:

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: On Fox News Sunday, the GOP governor said he'd use his authority to keep calling special sessions of the Texas legislature to extend the battle indefinitely. The special session lasts 30 days, he said, per the Guardian, "and as soon as this one is over, I'm going to call another one, then another one, then another one, then another one." If the Democrats who left the state to prevent a House vote on the GOP plan "want to evade that arrest, they're going to stay outside Texas for literally years," he said.

• Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker: "This is—it's cheating," Pritzker said on NBC News' Meet the Press. "Donald Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives, he cheats at golf, and now he's trying to cheat the American people out of their votes." Abbott had calling Illinois' current congressional map a "joke," a thought Pritzker returned. "Governor Abbott is the joke," the Democrat said, per CNBC. "He's the one who is attempting mid-decade here—at a time when, frankly, all of us are concerned about the future of democracy. He's literally helping whittle it away and licking the boots of his leader, Donald Trump."
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul: On Fox News Sunday, the Democrat said Republicans are pushing mid-decade redistricting because Trump is worried about the GOP losing control of the House in next year's midterm elections. She called Abbott a "lap dog" for Trump. "Knock it off," she said, per the Guardian. "Let's get back to governing."

• Vice President JD Vance: "The democratic system in this country is broken, because who you vote for doesn't necessarily get reflected in who your representatives are," Vance said on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures. He contended that Republicans are "just trying to rebalance the scales," per the Washington Post.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders: Like Hochul, the independent senator and longtime opponent of gerrymandering said Democrats have no choice but to battle the GOP effort on its own terms. "Democrats have got to fight back," Sanders said on CNN's State of the Union. "I think it's pathetic, but I think that's what they've got to do."