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Former Vice President Kamala Harris faced swift Republican backlash after calling on Democrats to consider expanding the Supreme Court and gutting the Electoral College the next time they are in power.
“Let’s invite ideas, for example, that are about Supreme Court reform, including the notion of expanding the court,” Harris said on a call with the left-wing nonprofit Emerge. “Let’s invite a discussion about how do we push for statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C.; how are we thinking about the Electoral College.”
“We’ve got to neutralize this red state cheating,” she continued. “There’s a brutality at play on the other side, and a ruthlessness. And we need to play to win.”
Harris’ plea for “bold” reforms came after Democrats suffered two major setbacks in the redistricting wars, as both parties scramble to draw new congressional seats ahead of November’s midterm elections.
HARRIS’ ‘NO BAD IDEA BRAINSTORM’ FOR DEMS INCLUDES PACKING SCOTUS, ELIMINATING ELECTORAL COLLEGE
In late April, the Supreme Court moved to curb the use of race in the drawing of electoral districts, effectively gutting Black-majority districts held by Democrats across the South. Democrats were dealt another blow at the Virginia Supreme Court earlier in May when a Democratic-friendly gerrymander was struck down over a procedural concern.
“What they have done with this decision, by saying that the politics of redistricting is okay, is they are back-dooring racism through politics,” Harris also said on the call. “What they are doing is intentionally about trying to suppress the voice of the people.”
The 2024 presidential candidate’s ideas drew a sharp rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who accused Democrats of being “institutional arsonists.”
“It’s a dangerous thing, a dangerous gambit,” the speaker said. “You don’t just blow up the system when you lose.”
“For the former vice president of the United States and a candidate for president to suggest that you should pack the Supreme Court or destroy these institutions because they lost is I just think outrageous,” he added.
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Conservative Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., also criticized Harris’ comments, calling them “totally insane” in an interview with Fox News.
“That’s why we can’t let her become president,” he said. “People … rejected her before; they’ll reject her again.”
Not all Democrats are in agreement with Harris.
“I think that’s putting the cart before the horse,” Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., told Fox News. “Right now I’m focusing on lowering costs, health care, ending a runaway war that’s costing Americans tens of billions of dollars. Those are the things that my constituents are talking to me about.”
Harris’ calls for Democratic retaliation come as Republicans are emerging as the clear winners in the redistricting battle ahead of the midterms. The GOP could pick up more than a dozen seats after a bevy of GOP-led states have drawn new congressional maps while Democratic gains have so far been limited to California and Utah.
Earlier in May, Tennessee carved up its lone Black-majority district, represented for decades by a white Democrat, allowing Republicans to pick up a seat that had long eluded them.
Louisiana and South Carolina are conducting similar efforts to erase several Democratic-held seats following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has vowed to respond with his own gerrymander push in a swath of blue and purple states, including New York, New Jersey, Colorado and Oregon. But those states are not likely to move forward with new maps until 2028, making it a moot point ahead of November.
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