In 2021, the media were instantly lovestruck when Texas Democrats fled the state in order to block an election integrity bill from passing. Today, many of those same Democrats are hunkered down in Chicago, in a vain attempt to prevent their state from being redistricted, and once again, the corporate media have rushed to their defense.
MRC analysts tallied every interview with a Texas lawmaker that occurred on CNN and MSNBC from August 1 through August 6, between 6:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. In just six days, liberal cable networks rewarded the Democratic Texas legislators for their defiance with a whopping 45 sympathetic interviews. Meanwhile, Republicans from Lone Star State received just two argumentative interviews.
Predictably, MSNBC had the majority of Texas Democrats on: 29 interviews, or almost double CNN’s already-impressive count of 16. Perhaps equally predictably, both interviews with Republicans occurred on CNN.
That 45-2 partisan disparity tracks pretty well with how talking heads on these networks have been talking about the redistricting map, too. As it turns out, they all absolutely hate the idea:
The numbers tell their own story, but the tenor of the hosts’ questioning also varied based on the guest’s party affiliation. For example, while questioning Republican Mitch Little on August 5, CNN host Brianna Keilar repeatedly demanded an explanation for why the redistricting was needed, before eventually deciding it must be to please President Trump:
BRIANNA KEILAR: The timing of this, can you talk to me bout this? Why do this in a census off-year when you just redistricted in 2021?
STATE REP. MITCH LITTLE (R-TX): Because we can. We have the votes. It’s legal for us to do so...
…
KEILAR: So, because you can? Why should you, though?
LITTLE: Because it’s good for our party. It’s good for our state. And we need to ensure that Donald Trump’s agenda continues to be enacted through his second term.
…
KEILAR: So you’re doing this for President Trump.
By contrast, the following day, CNN News Central host Boris Sanchez invited his guest, Democratic Texas Congresswoman Erin Gamez, to join him in scoffing at that very exchange between Keilar and Little: “I want to get your reaction to the idea that ‘we’re doing it because we can.’ Is it right for politicians of either party to gerrymander?”
Even within the MRC’s exhaustive news archive, analysts could find no clip of a CNN or MSNBC host asking an Illinois Republican his thoughts on the morality of redistricting. But if we missed something, and such a man-bites-dog clip actually exists (it doesn’t), please notify @banned_bill on X (formerly Twitter).
We couldn’t provide a similar contrast from the MSNBC coverage, of course, because Texas Republicans aren’t allowed on MSNBC. Instead, here’s a fun fact: in just two days, between August 4 and August 5, there were more interviews with Texas Democrats on MSNBC than there are shows in a standard weekday lineup on that network (15 interviews in two days, versus 14 shows per day on MSNBC).
Unlike in 2021, however, when the media were riding high on the Democrats’ D.C. trifecta (control of the House, Senate, and White House), the tone this past week was much less celebratory. Whereas four years ago the absentee legislators were celebrated as heroes, now their friends in the media media are portraying them as plucky but ultimately helpless victims, rather than brave revolutionaries.
That might be because they know there is ultimately nothing the Texas Democrats can do to stop the Congressional districts from being redrawn.
