Co-hosts of ABCs daytime talk show The View devoted a segment to denouncing Republican-led redistricting efforts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, framing routine map-drawing battles as an existential threat to democracy rather than a normal feature of American politics.
According to Mediaite, the panel focused almost exclusively on GOP legislatures, despite the fact that partisan gerrymandering has long been practiced by both parties wherever they hold power. Roughly eight states have now implemented Republican-led congressional map changes, a development conservatives argue is a lawful response to shifting populations and recent court rulings, while progressives portray it as an assault on voting rights.
Ana Navarro, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, claimed the redistricting push is driven by fear of electoral defeat rather than constitutional authority vested in state legislatures. The reason this is happening is because Trump knows hes going to lose the House, which means that there will finally be oversight and accountability of the abuses of power by his misadministration, and that is why hes trying to change the rules in the middle of the game and give himself more Republican districts, and its going to be a backlash because the voters dont have to take it and are not going to take it, said Ana Navarro.
Navarro further insisted that voter turnout would neutralize any perceived advantage created by new maps, casting the issue in almost spiritual terms. And they can redraw everything, but they cant redraw what voters do with their God-given right to vote. So were going to show up in record numbers and were not going to let them rig these elections, she added.
Co-host Sunny Hostin shifted the conversation to race, arguing that Republican strategies are inherently discriminatory against Black voters, even though the Supreme Court has drawn a legal distinction between racial and partisan gerrymandering. I hope thats true, Sunny Hostin said. I think its tough because you do dilute the Black vote. People are saying Ive read places where people are saying, this is not about raceIf Black people are the backbone of the Democratic party and youre gerrymandering on a partisan basis for the Republicans, of course its about race! Its about diluting the Black vote. Thats 100% what its about.
Hostin then accused Republicans of initiating what she called a race to the bottom, while praising Democrats for finally responding in kind, effectively endorsing the same hardball tactics she condemned. Hostin continued, It is a race to the bottom, but the Republicans started that race. They started that race in Texas and then they continued it and continued and continued it. We just saw it in Tennesseeand in Florida. And what I do appreciate about the Democrats is theyre finally realizing that the Republicans are not playing by the rules, that theyre drafting their own rules, and its time for the Democrats to play by those new rules!
The Republicans are not playing fair so now its time to meet them where they are! Hostin added, underscoring a partisan double standard in which aggressive redistricting is condemned when executed by Republicans but celebrated when Democrats follow suit. Watch the clip above via ABCs, a reminder that for many on the left, the real objection is not to gerrymandering itself, but to conservatives using the same legal tools that Democrats have long exploited in states they control.
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