Don Lemon And Cory Booker on Redistricting by Republicans

Senator Booker describes partisan gerrymandering as a 'cancer' growing across the country, allowing political power to be concentrated even when the majority votes against the ruling party. He highlights its most severe manifestation when it becomes racial, comparing current efforts to post-Reconstruction tactics designed to suppress black representation.

Booker states, 'This is a cancer that's growing in our country... when it becomes racial and people are jumping us back to the post-reconstruction days where state houses did the same thing. Let's pass any kind of law we can think of to stop black people from having representation and power.'

Booker points to the Supreme Court's decision in Rucho v. Common Cause, where it acknowledged partisan gerrymandering as wrong and anti-democratic but declared it beyond judicial remedy. He notes that subsequent legislative attempts to address it fell along party lines, with Republicans voting to continue it and Democrats seeking to end it.

Booker mentions, 'There was a case Rucho versus Common Cause where they said hey partisan gerrymandering is wrong but we can't do anything about it... Republicans voted to continue to have partisan gerrymandering Democrats voted to get rid of partisan gerrymandering.'

Booker emphasizes the critical role of African-American voters in American political movements, from labor to suffrage, and their consistent support for Democratic causes. He argues that attacks on black political power are strategic, aiming to undermine broader democratic movements and policies like healthcare.

Booker states, 'We know black voters have centered workers' rights. Black voters have centered reproductive rights... To attack black political... you begin to undermine all of those democratic movements.' He adds, 'If three cities in Michigan, Detroit, and Philly had a black turnout 80% of what they had 4 years earlier with Obama, there would be no Donald Trump in the election.'

Senator Booker openly acknowledges that Democratic 'failures and fecklessness' have contributed to the current political climate. He specifically calls out the issue of political corruption, urging Democrats to cease trading stocks and accepting corporate and issue-area PAC money, setting a higher standard for campaign finance.

Booker asserts, 'Democrats helped pave the road to where we are right now. The Democrats failures and fecklessness has created a better path for Donald Trump to getting to where he is right now.' He challenges, 'Why are Democrats still trading stocks? Why are Democrats still accepting corporate PAC money?'