Booker: More important Democrats win 2026 elections than ‘play by the rules’
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) emphasized that winning the 2026 midterm elections is more vital for Democrats than strictly adhering to established rules. In an interview on CNN, Booker criticized former President Donald Trump for advocating aggressive gerrymandering efforts in Texas to secure additional Republican congressional seats. Booker acknowledged frustrations over gerrymandering but suggested Democrats might need to adopt similar tactics to counteract what he described as Trump’s attempts to “cheat, lie, and steal” elections. Notably, New Jersey, Booker’s home state, is among the top states where Democrats have benefited from gerrymandering, securing a disproportionate number of House seats compared to their share of the vote.Booker’s comments highlight growing tensions around redistricting practices and the strategic approaches parties may take ahead of upcoming elections, with Democratic leaders urging state officials to respond to GOP redistricting moves accordingly.
Cory Booker asserts it’s more important Democrats win midterm elections than ‘play by the rules’
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) implied that he would be in favor of gerrymandering out of the Democratic Party’s “need to win” in the 2026 midterm elections.
Booker blasted President Donald Trump for proposing, as Booker characterized it, “gerrymandering” to win more congressional seats. Trump has backed maps to change districts in Texas to win five more seats for the Republican Party.
“I‘m sick of the gerrymandering, but if Donald Trump is going to push to gerrymander Texas, he‘s going to break the rules in order to win,” Booker said Monday on CNN’s Early Start With Rahel Solomon. “He can‘t win by the rules they are right now.”
“For Democrats to sit back and just say, ‘OK, we‘re going to play by the queen’s rules,’ no, I‘m telling you right now, we need to win in the midterm,” Booker said. “We need to stop [Trump] from cheating, from lying, and from stealing the election. If they’re doing something to add their congressional seats, we need to look at our ways of doing that right now.”
When it comes to redistricting, Booker’s own state of New Jersey is among the top three states that gerrymander across the nation, and the Democratic Party has benefited. Nine of New Jersey’s 12 House seats are occupied by Democrats. Democrats won 52% of the presidential vote in 2024, leaving a 23-point gap between their overall state partisan advantage and their advantage in House seats.
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New Jersey is not among the four states that use independent commissions to determine congressional districts. Less than one-fifth of all U.S. congressional districts are redistricted by independent commissions.
The Democratic Governors Association has also called on state leaders to respond “in kind” to redistricting efforts.
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