Ted Cruz Challenges Democrats on Race-Based Districting
Senator Ted Cruz challenges Democrats history of Race-Based districting while questioning witnesses Will Chamberlain (Senior Counsel Article III Project Raleigh, NC), and Edward Greim (Partner Graves Garrett Greim Kansas City, MO) during the hearing “Enforcing Callais: Implementing the Supreme Court’s Command Against Racial Gerrymandering.”
Transcript:
Senator Ted Cruz: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just a moment ago, our colleague, Senator Hirono said there’s a lot more to say. And indeed, she’s right. And in fact, I want to go back to her comments. She began by saying, we have a long history of racial discrimination in this country. That’s undoubtedly correct. And then she said, quote, we had poll taxes, we had literacy tests. We even had tests of how many jelly beans are in a jar. Mr. Chamberlain, when, when Senator Hirono says we had poll taxes.
I want to ask you who we is. And in particular, what party was it that implemented poll taxes in the South?
Will Chamberlain: I don’t want to necessarily speak in every single case, but I’m pretty confident it was mostly the Democrats.
Senator Ted Cruz: And what party was it that put literacy tests in place in the South?
Will Chamberlain: Same answer. Mostly the Democrats.
Senator Ted Cruz: And what party was it that had tests like how many jelly beans are in a bottle?
Will Chamberlain: The Democrats.
Senator Ted Cruz: Tell me, what party were the founders of the Ku Klux Klan from?
Will Chamberlain: I’m pretty sure that was the Democrats.
Senator Ted Cruz: Indeed. In fact, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Klan, was a delegate to the 1860 Democrat National Convention.
What party wrote the Jim Crow laws in the South?
Will Chamberlain: The Democrats.
Senator Ted Cruz: And, so, on this side of the aisle were members of the Republican Party. Who was the first Republican president.
Will Chamberlain: Abraham Lincoln.
Senator Ted Cruz: The Republican Party was literally founded to oppose slavery. We came into existence because slavery was a grotesque evil. And it was President Lincoln, the first Republican president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, who won the Civil War. And that resulted in the freeing of the slaves and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
By the way. Fast forward to the civil rights era.
Bull Connor, one of the most noxious, racist politicians. What party was he from?
Will Chamberlain: He was a Democrat.
Senator Ted Cruz: The Democrats, for the entire history of their party, have been a party based on racial discrimination. They affirmatively embrace it. They support it. Let me ask you, Mr. Greim, is discrimination. Is discriminating based on race consistent with the United States Constitution?
Edward Greim: No.
Senator Ted Cruz: What does the 14th amendment say about discrimination based on race?
Edward Greim: It’s prohibited.
Senator Ted Cruz: What does the 15th amendment say about discriminating based on race, and in particular, drawing congressional lines and explicitly discriminating based on race?
Edward Greim It’s prohibited.
Senator Ted Cruz: Now, the Democrats are fond of telling this story. That is, and I wish I could find a kinder way to say it, a flat out lie, that without discriminating based on race, that no African Americans will be elected and no Hispanics will be elected. Indeed, there was one fellow online who was a vocal left wing spokesperson who tweeted out, “If I’m advising anybody to run for president, they sure as hell better have a solution to how you make sure that it’s not another hundred years before another black person can represent South Carolina.”
So, that’s a typical Democrat statement that we cannot elect a black person in South Carolina without discriminating based on race. I want to ask you, Mr. Chamberlain, who is the junior senator from South Carolina right now?
Will Chamberlain: That would be Tim Scott.
Senator Ted Cruz: And all right, I’ll tell you what I said online. I said, hey, Grok, who is Tim Scott and why do Democrats think he isn’t black? And by the way, was Tim Scott elected because of a gerrymandered district drawn only to elect an African-American?
Will Chamberlain: No, he won statewide.
Senator Ted Cruz: He won statewide.
By the way, the Democrat position is you can only elect African Americans with a gerrymandered district. I will point out Burgess Owens, an African-American, is elected the majority white district in the state of Utah. He’s a Republican. Byron Donalds, another African American is elected in the majority white district in Florida. He is a Republican. John James, another African American, is elected to majority white district in Michigan. He is a Republican. And my own congressman, Wesley Hunt, who represents me in the House of Representatives. He is elected in a majority white district. He is a Republican.
And yet in the Democrats world, you’re not black if you’re not a liberal Democrat. There is an arrogance to African American voters.
By the way, they also have that same arrogance to Hispanic voters. They say you’re not Hispanic if you’re not a liberal Democrat. Well, I’ll tell you, I am proud to be the first Hispanic ever elected to represent the state of Texas in the United States Senate. And Mr. Chamberlain, in my election in Texas, was I elected in the gerrymandered district that could only elect an Hispanic?
Will Chamberlain: No. You were elected statewide.
Senator Ted Cruz: Discrimination based on race is wrong.
Final question. The Democrats are now clutching their pearls, that seats drawn to elect Liberal Democrats in the South are going to go away. You may get black Republicans instead. Indeed in Tennessee, they’re freaking out that a liberal white guy who’s a Democrat is likely going to lose his seat to an African-American woman who’s a Republican.
And they say, that’s horrible racial oppression.
My final question is this, if you look nationwide, which party has agreed abused gerrymandering for decades, both parties are guilty of it, but which, who has been the worst offender? And in particular, take New England, take Massachusetts, take Connecticut, take Rhode Island, take Maine, take Vermont, take New Hampshire. How many Republicans are elected from all of New England in the House of Representatives?
Will Chamberlain: I think the answer to that is zero zero.
Senator Ted Cruz: They’ve drawn every district in a naked gerrymander. And yet they’re very upset that their illegal pursuit of power has now been stopped by the Supreme Court that is enforcing the Constitution and prohibiting the racial gerrymandering and discrimination their party is built on.
