Rep. Jolanda Jones apologizes for comparing Texas redistricting plan to Holocaust
HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 21: State Rep. Jolanda Jones speaks during an emergency town hall meeting she called to address student safety at the University of Houston on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 in Houston. State Rep. Jones called the meeting to provide
Texas state Rep. Jolanda Jones apologized on Tuesday for comparing a plan to redraw the state's congressional maps to the Holocaust.
Jones was one of around 50 Democratic House members who left the state on Monday in an attempt to block a plan by Republicans to redraw the state's congressional maps to add five additional GOP seats to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Comments made to Don Lemon
Jones made the comments to former CNN host Don Lemon on Tuesday. The Houston Democrat joined the show from an "undisclosed location" in New York where some of the Texas Democrats fled.
What they're saying:
"We better have the courage to stand up, otherwise we will fall for anything," she said. "And in this country, we will be defeated, deported. I mean, we will lose all of our rights. And if you think it can't happen, it can."
Jones called the proposed redistricting map racist because it targets districts with majority minority voters.
"And I will liken this to the Holocaust," Jones said. "People are like, ‘Well, how did the Holocaust happen? How was somebody in a position to kill all them people?’ Well, good people remain silent or good people didn't realize that what happens to them can very soon happen to me or somebody I love.
"And so, even if you made it, man, you have an obligation to help people who can't because, God forbid, they end up targeting you and your family."
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Jones apologized for her comments on Tuesday in a statement to FOX News Digital.
"I made a statement on ‘The Don Lemon Show’ comparing Trump's attempt to disenfranchise Black and Brown people to the Holocaust. That was a mistake, and I apologize for it. Trump is coming for my community, and I get emotional about it and make strong statements. But that was going too far, and I retract that comparison," the statement read.
The other side:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, criticized Jones' original comments.
"Fleeing Texas House Democrats continue to beclown themselves through this desperate, anti-democratic stunt. Unlike these radicals, Governor Abbott refuses to abandon Texans. If the House Democrats who deserted Texans were serious about delivering results, they would come back to the Texas Capitol and do the job voters elected them to do," Mahaleris told Fox News Digital.
Arrest warrants and efforts to remove Democratic members of the Texas House.
Tuesday night, Gov. Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit asking the Texas Supreme Court to remove Texas Democrat Caucus Chair Gene Wu from office.
Abbott filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court of Texas for Wu's removal, citing his Sunday promise to attempt to do so for Democrats who left the state to prevent redistricting efforts.
Abbott said Sunday that if the Democrat lawmakers were not back in office by the time the House reconvened Monday at 3 p.m., efforts to remove them would begin. Wu's removal is the first official attempt to be made.
The lawsuit claims that Wu's actions as the state House's party leader, along with other Democrats who broke quorum, are an abandonment of their office. According to the governor, this justifies their permanent removal from their positions.
In a statement, Wu said denying a quorum in the House was not an abandonment of office, but an upholding of his oath to the office, which he said did not belong to him or Abbott and instead belonged to the voters in his district.
"To Governor Abbott: You have failed the people of Texas, and you are using the courts to punish those who refused to fail with you," Wu said. "My purpose has been clear from the start: to serve my constituents and fight for what's right, no matter the cost. You will find that my commitment to the people of Texas is unbreakable."
Threats to arrest Texas Democrats
The backstory:
Texas Republican leaders have threatened to have the quorum breakers arrested, even requesting aid from agencies outside the state in the effort.
Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to begin the effort starting Monday, saying the Democrats were "holding hostage critical legislation."
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, seeing the difficulty in Texas DPS carrying out arrests outside the state, called on the FBI Tuesday to assist in the effort with a letter to Director Kash Patel. Cornyn expressed concern that the lawmakers had committed crimes in their "rush to avoid their constitutional responsibilities," saying they need to be fully investigated.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows urged the "no shows" to return and said he would sign arrest warrants for those who do not. According to the Texas Tribune, these warrants would be largely symbolic as they would only apply within state lines.
Texas redistricting effort
Dig deeper:
The newly proposed map increases the number of congressional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points by five.
Republicans currently control 25 of the state's 38 Congressional districts.
The new map makes some big changes in North Texas. It moves Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey’s district from Tarrant to Dallas County, Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson’s district moves from Dallas and Collin County to more conservative sections of East Texas, and Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas seat becomes one of just two majority Black districts in the entire state.
The Democrats claim the redrawn maps will violate the federal Voting Rights Act, but that may be difficult for them to prove.
In Central Texas, Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett would find their districts vastly different from the current map.
The district currently held by Casar would no longer include Travis County, while the district held by Doggett would no longer include a portion of Williamson County.
In Houston, the new map reshapes four currently Democrat-held districts. The biggest change to the districts would be in the seat currently held by Rep. Al Green. The new map would shift the district from covering southern Harris County and instead move it to the eastern part of the county.
The Source: Comments made by Rep. Jolanda Jones come from the Don Lemon Show. Jones' apology and comments from Gov. Abbott's office come from FOX News Digital. Backstory on Texas redistricting and state Democrats leaving the state come from previous FOX 26 reporting.