When Governor Greg Abbot called The Texas Legislature into special session ostensibly to deal with the aftermath of the devastating flooding of the Guadalupe River, but instead listed first on the agenda a highly unusual mid-decade redistricting to re-gerrymander the already gerrymandered redistricting after the 2020 Census, with the stated intention of providing 5 more Republican seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm election; and After enough Democratic members fled Texas to deprive the Republican majority of the necessary quorum to do this, we invited Dave Daley back to help us understand what the heck is going on.
We had him on in September, 2024 when his book, Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections, came out; and in 2022 right after the midterms; and in 2020 when his book, Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, was published.
We spoke with him on August 5, 2025 via Zoom.
Also included are excerpts from an interview with Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works. Here is a link to the full interview: https://forthright.media/2025/08/06/alex-lawson-90th-anniversary-of-the-social-security-act/
Links to our earlier interviews with David Daley: https://forthright.media/2024/09/27/david-daley-antidemocratic-inside-the-far-rights-50-year-plot-to-control-american-elections/
From 2022: https://forthright.media/2022/11/12/david-daley-paul-pierson-post-midterms-2022/
Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:
Judge Rules Utah Must Redraw Its Congressional Map, Frustrating Republicans https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/us/utah-congress-gerrymander-redistricting.html
State voting rights acts recognize proportional ranked choice voting as a way to protect voters https://fairvote.org/state-voting-rights-acts-recognize-proportional-ranked-choice-voting-as-a-way-to-protect-voters/
Gov. Greg Abbott’s options to force a redistricting vote are more limited than they appear https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/04/greg-abbott-texas-democrats-redistricting-00492100
California moves to dismantle GOP map — and Trump’s grip https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/04/california-fires-back-at-texas-redistricting-00493314
Federal court says Alabama must use map that creates 2nd Black majority district https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/07/federal-court-alabama-must-use-map-black-majority-district-00499369
The America We Knew Is Rapidly Slipping Away https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/opinion/columnists/friedman-trump-labor-firing.html
The Supreme Court Has Finally Found a President It Likes https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/opinion/supreme-court-trump-administration.html
The Origins of the Political Power Grab in Texas https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/us/politics/texas-redistricting-politics.html
Group releases text of proposed Montana Constitutional amendment to curb dark money https://dailymontanan.com/2025/08/01/group-releases-text-of-proposed-montana-constitutional-amendment-to-curb-dark-money/
Donald Trump’s golf tab for taxpayers continues to skyrocket. Here’s the eye-popping new estimate https://www.pennlive.com/news/2025/08/donald-trumps-golf-tab-for-taxpayers-continues-to-skyrocket-heres-the-eye-popping-new-estimate.html
Democrats sound alarm over Trump’s reported $1bn plan to retrofit gifted Qatari jet https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/07/trumps-qatar-jet-retrofitting-democrats-letter
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