AMNA NAWAZ: Texas lawmakers convened for a special session today to address some of the state's most pressing issues, including the response to the deadly July 4 floods.

But one agenda item was added at the request of President Trump, pushing the Republican-controlled legislature to redraw congressional district lines in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Beto O'Rourke is a former congressman from El Paso.

That's one of the seats the president wants to flip.

Welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX): Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So the Texas legislature -- Texas lawmakers, rather, have 38 seats in the House, Republicans already have 25.

This redrawing could potentially add five to their tally.

Are you worried all of this is going to make it easier for Republicans to control the House?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: This is the only reason that they're doing it.

The president is very open about this.

Our senior senator, John Cornyn, is very open about this.

And for those who haven't been following, redistricting is a process by which current members of Congress get to choose their own voters.

And they're doing this and the president's made it such a priority because he sees the polling numbers.

Immigration, which if there was a policy issue he won on in '24, is polling at 35 percent for the president.

He's underwater in his favorables.

Folks don't like the direction this country's headed in.

And so he knows he will lose the slim majority they have in the House of Representatives unless they rig the game mid-decade, which is what they're trying to do in Texas.

But Democrats have an opportunity to fight back in Texas.

The state House Democrats could walk out and deny their colleagues a quorum.

We have governors like Gavin Newsom, who have threatened to redistrict in Democrats' favor in their states, which I'm in favor of.

And then it may come back to bite these Republicans because, in order to create more competitive districts that they can win, they're going to have to lose some Republican voters in current Republican strongholds.

So there may be an opportunity for Democrats.

But any one or all three of those paths of resistance have to be pursued by Democrats.

We have to fight back and we have to fight fire with fire.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have mentioned this before, fighting fire with fire, saying Democrats have to be ruthless.

Texas isn't the only state where Republicans have a governing trifecta and they're doing this mid-decade redistricting.

You mentioned Gavin Newsom's effort.

Why don't you think more Democrats where they have governing trifectas in other states, why aren't they doing this?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I think historically, and I say this as a lifelong Democrat, our party has been more interested in being right than being in power.

I think the Republican Party under Donald Trump cares more about being in power than they care about anything else, whether it's right or ethical or legal or constitutional.

We have to be ruthlessly focused about winning, holding onto power, and then using that power to fix a badly broken system that is not working for tens of millions of our fellow Americans.

If we do not do that, not only will we not win political power; we might very well lose this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you want to see Democrats do more gerrymandering is what you're saying?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Fight back with everything we have, nothing off the table.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about what James Carville wrote in his op-ed about the Democratic Party right now, looking at some of those divisions.

He wrote: "The Democratic Party is steamrolling toward a civilized civil war.

It's necessary to have it.

It's even more necessary to delay it.

The only thing that can save us now is an actual savior because a new party can be delivered only by a person."

Do you agree with that, that it's going to take a singular figure to lead Democrats out of this disarray?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: No, it's going to take all of us.

There's no cavalry, there's no savior who is going to ride to our rescue.

It has to be the people of this country.

And my advice for my fellow Democrats is, we certainly have told the American people what we're against.

We don't like Donald Trump, this Big Beautiful Bill that transferred nearly a trillion dollars of our wealth to the wealthiest 1 percent in this country.

Folks get that, but what is our vision for the future?

How about we imagine an America where your take-home pay is enough to live on so you don't work a second or a third job?

You're guaranteed the ability to see a doctor when you're sick, before you're sick, so that you don't get sick.

You have access to fresh and healthy food and clean drinking water.

If you work hard, you can afford a home, because too many people are working too hard right now and cannot buy a home.

If we don't help people get what they need from a government of the many, then soon enough they're going to be open to getting what they need from a government of the few or a government even of only one.

And then one more thing.

We have to, especially when it comes to our standing in the world, really stand up for what we care about, like human rights.

So, in Gaza, we can't be saying that we're for a two-state solution or offer mealymouthed platitudes.

We have to stop being complicit in the bombing and the starving and the slaughtering of innocent children in Gaza and use the awesome power of this country to convene the nations of that region and of the planet, if that's what it takes, to establish an independent sovereign Palestinian state and do what we can to guarantee the safety of every Palestinian, every Israeli, every person in that region.

People want to see us boldly stand up for the things that we really care about and the things that really matter.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congressman, this is not the unified message we have been getting from members of the party.

There are clearly divisions on this issue, on many others.

As you travel around, you hold these town halls, where do you see the divisions within the Democratic base?

Is it generational?

Is it ideological?

Where are those lines?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: You know, I think there's been a lot of ink spilled about whether Democrats need to be more progressive or more moderate.

I think that's the wrong spectrum to look at.

I think what people want is a Democratic Party that will fight.

And so the division is between those who submit and give in and bend the knee and those who are willing to fight back with all that they have got.

Everywhere I go, it doesn't matter if it's in Texas, or we were in Baltimore last night -- we will be in Omaha, Nebraska soon -- folks want to see us fight.

They want to see us fight for our fellow Americans, fight back against everything that is illegal and corrupt and incompetent in this administration, and fight to win power and then use it to deliver for the American people.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think your leadership is bending the knee right now?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I think Chuck Schumer, in the continuing resolution which funded the government, gave Donald Trump and at the time an Elon Musk a blank check to do what they wanted with and to this country.

There was no reason to do that.

Hakeem Jeffries and the House Democrats stood strong.

I think it's time that we thank leaders who have done great work like Chuck Schumer and then ask new ones to step up and make sure that we have a party that fights for every single one of us and fights until we win.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think it's time for Schumer to lead leadership?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I do.

I think, if we learned nothing else from 2024, the old idea that Democrats need to care more about each other's feelings and seniority and making sure that no one is denied the opportunity for leadership that they have been waiting for, that has not worked for us.

We need to deliver and we need to be absolutely clear about that.

And if he's not getting that done, time to get out of the way and for someone else to step up and lead.

AMNA NAWAZ: So I need to ask you, what about your role in the party?

Because you obviously -- you're a former city council member from El Paso.

You went on to win a congressional seat.

You grew your support, we should say, in races in 2014 and '16, but you haven't won a race since '16.

You lost your Senate bid.

You lost your Democratic presidential primary bid.

You lost your governor's bid.

What's your role?

What did you run for office again?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Here's the thing.

Like millions of my fellow Americans, I don't need a title.

I don't need to be part of a campaign.

I just need to do what I can with what I have, where I am, to help this country.

So, in Texas, with Powered by People, we're registering voters.

And because it's the toughest state in the nation in which to cast a ballot, we then personally help those voters cast those ballots; 18-to-29-year-olds in Texas voted at 79 percent in our program.

Nationally, it is 42 percent.

This stuff is working.

And these town halls where we convene people, Republicans, independence, Democrats, it brings people together to listen to one another, not to a candidate and not to a politician and not to a political party, but to one another.

We're so divided and polarized and isolated right now, that in itself is really powerful.

So I'm going to continue to get out there, do the work, listen to my fellow Americans and then fight right alongside them to save this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: Have you ruled out another run for office?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I haven't ruled it out.

Everything's on the table, whatever we need to do to get this country back.

AMNA NAWAZ: Former Democratic Congressman from Texas Beto O'Rourke, thank you for being here.

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Thank you.