Mike Nellis, an ex-senior adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 campaign, ripped Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday after Texas Democrats prevented Republicans in the state’s House from advancing a redistricting vote that looks to benefit the GOP in next year’s midterm elections.
Watters questioned Nellis over whether he thinks it’s “smart for all the headlines” to read that Texas Democrats “ran away from the job,” a reference to dozens of the party’s lawmakers leaving the state to break quorum in an effort to block the GOP-majority House from proceeding with the plan backed by President Donald Trump.
“Well, let’s take a step back from that for a second,” Nellis replied. “Do you think it’s a good headline for all the headlines to say that Republicans are so worried about losing the midterms they decided to rig the maps?”
The GOP-majority House has since issued civil arrest warrants against the Democrats, an effort that legal experts have dismissed as unenforceable outside the Lone Star State.
After several seconds of crosstalk, Watters claimed that “both sides redistrict and it’s not the end of the world.” He went on to argue that most Americans don’t like lawmakers running “away from work” like the Democrats in Texas.
Nellis hit back, “Well, most Americans don’t like politicians drawing up their own maps. They don’t like the fact that Republicans are scared they’re going to lose the midterms so they’re trying to rig the game like they always do.”
He continued, “Look, Texas Republicans could be, right now, trying to do something to help the American people, help the people of Texas with floods. They’re not doing that right now.”
Nellis — a Democratic strategist credited as one of the organizers of the “White Dudes for Harris” group — pointed out that Republicans in Congress are also on recess while the president is playing golf.