Chris Hayes ‘Genuinely Shocked’ Dems Are ‘Actively Fighting’ GOP ‘Power Grab’ Instead of ‘Rolling Over’ | Video

Chris Hayes praised Democrats with faint damnation, so to speak, on Friday, marveling that he was “genuinely shocked” to see them actually fight back against the Republican Party instead of, as he put it, “rolling over.”

The inspiration for this blunt assessment of the Democratic Party was the passage Thursday of a crucial election bill by the California legislature on Thursday, as Hayes explained in the introductory portion of Thursday’s episode of “All In.”

“We are all so used to Democrats essentially rolling over, not actively fighting back with all they have to disposal against MAGA abuses of power that, I gotta say, I’m genuinely shocked tonight,” Hayes began.

“Because earlier today, they did it. The California legislature moved very quickly and voted in favor of revising their state’s congressional maps with a measure called the Election Rigging Response Act. The vote came in response to the power grab by Texas Republicans, ordered by Donald Trump to gerrymander their state mid-decade… to add in five new Republican leaning districts.”

After playing clips of Democratic responses to that scheme, Hayes mentioned California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who he said “has been talking a very big game. He’s been trolling Trump on social media, promising to respond in kind if Texas lawmakers went through with their brazen plan.”

“They actually did it,” Hayes said referring to California democrats and sounding slightly in disbelief.

For those still catching up, the ERRA is a direct response to the Trump-backed Texas gerrymandering scheme that eliminated 5 Democratic districts in Texas. That extremely rare mid-decade redistricting — the last time it happened was in 2003, in Texas, for essentially the same reasons — is intended specifically to mitigate the unpopularity of Trump-era policies by making it impossible for Democrats to retake the House of Representatives in the 2026 mid-terms.

Trump has also been pushing other GOP strongholds like Florida and Indiana to similarly kill Dem districts, and in response blue states like New York and California are looking into redistricting of their own.

The ERRA would create a new congressional map for California with 5 new Democratic districts and 4 swing districts. Complicating things, per a 2008 ballot initiative, a nonpartisan commission draws up congressional maps. As such, the ERRA must be approved by voters in a special election scheduled for Nov. 4. If it passes, the new districts will only be in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections — through the 2030 census, in other words — after which they would revert back to the independent redistricting commission.

Hayes explained those issues, and then spoke to California Assembly member Isaac Bryan, and then to Senator Elizabeth Warren. You can watch the whole segment below:

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