Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is raising alarms over President Donald Trump’s aggressive push for mid-decade redistricting in Republican-led states, claiming the effort could intensify national divisions and even lead to “political violence.”
Paul’s comments came during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The senator was pressed on the Indiana State Senate’s recent decision to reject a Trump-backed redistricting proposal.
The president endorsed the mid-cycle map overhaul.
It’s one that analysts say would have added two GOP seats ahead of next year’s midterms.
However, state lawmakers ultimately voted it down.
The rejection triggered backlash from Trump supporters, with Turning Point USA and members of the president’s family vowing to support primary challenges against Republicans who opposed the plan.
Host Kristen Welker asked Paul directly:
“Do you support Republicans trying to redraw maps mid-decade?”
Paul argued that the broader issue lies with both parties:
“Both sides are doing it, and so is one side going to sit quietly and not do it?
“You can argue who started it.
“But I do think this, and this is a negative aspect of both parties doing this, I think it will lead to more civil tension and possibly more violence in our country,” he said.
Paul pointed to demographic imbalances that redistricting can create, arguing that stripping political minorities of any representation heightens resentment.
“Because think about it, if 35% of Texas is Democrat, solidly Democrat, and they have zero representation, or like my state, we are a very Republican state, we have one Democrat area in Louisville, and we have a Democrat congressman,” Paul said.
“We could carve up Louisville and get rid of the one congressman, but how does that make Democrats feel? I think it makes them feel like they’re not represented.”
He added that extreme gerrymandering in deep-blue states poses the same risks.
“When it becomes so extreme, like if California has no Republican representatives after this is done, or has one left, I think that makes people so dissatisfied, they think, well, the electoral process isn’t working anymore, maybe we have to resort to other means.
“I think it could happen to both sides.”
When Welker asked him to clarify whether he was specifically predicting violence, Paul doubled down.
“I am concerned that if there are no representatives, like no Republican representatives in California or no Democrats in Texas, that it would be so thoroughly one-sided that people will feel like their vote isn’t counting,” he said, agreeing that the potential for unrest is real.
“So I think it’s a mistake.”
A Nationwide Redistricting Battle
Multiple Republican-controlled states, including Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, have advanced mid-decade maps in response to Democrat-led gerrymanders in blue states and what GOP officials call census “errors” that disproportionately undercounted red states.
Democrats have responded with aggressive countermeasures, most notably California’s Proposition 50, a new map designed to eliminate five Republican-held seats to offset GOP gains elsewhere.
Party strategists have also pledged to redraw additional districts in Virginia and Illinois, though the latter may present legal and demographic challenges.
The redistricting battle has escalated into an interstate political arms race, with each party seeking to blunt or reverse the other’s advantage ahead of the 2026 midterms.
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