Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

Office of Special Counsel Confirms Hatch Act Investigation Following Padilla Letter

Holder: “It’s both a sign of weakness and a sign of fear … The President and his party are afraid of the voters, and they are trying to manipulate the maps in Texas so that they can rig the election in 2026.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and California’s former Secretary of State, convened a spotlight forum titled “Protecting the Future of American Democracy: Fighting a Surge in Voter Suppression.” During the forum, he questioned former Attorney General Eric Holder and Loyola Law School Professor Justin Levitt on the Trump Administration’s efforts in Texas and other states to implement mid-decade racial redistricting for partisan political purposes.

The spotlight forum — co-led by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee — came as Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives released their new gerrymandered maps, caving to pressure from political appointees at Trump’s White House and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in an effort to create five additional Republican congressional seats.

Padilla highlighted his recent letter to the independent Office of Special Counsel demanding an investigation into senior Trump Administration officials for carrying out the President’s partisan scheme to racially gerrymander Texas and other states, calling it “a clear violation of the Hatch Act.” In response to Padilla’s letter, the Hatch Act Unit at the Office of Special Counsel confirmed they will open a file to address this potential violation.

While questioning Attorney General Holder, Padilla called the Trump-directed Texas redistricting “nothing short of a power grab” and emphasized that Republicans are “trying to tip the scales because they’re afraid of the response of the people in the 2026 election” to their extreme agenda. Holder further underscored the stakes of the Trump Administration’s partisan attempt at a racial gerrymander and highlighted an ongoing lawsuit on Texas’ previous gerrymander. He emphasized that nearly 90 percent of Texas’ population growth that recently granted them additional congressional seats came from people of color moving to Texas, yet the state previously added two majority white congressional districts.

• PADILLA: Attorney General Holder, what is your reaction to seeing a President of the United States — it’s not a dog whistle, it’s not saying the quiet part out loud, they’re using bull horns now — publicly call for partisan advantage through mid-decade racial gerrymandering and redistricting from the White House grounds, and is the Department of Justice appropriate to be party to this?

• HOLDER: Yeah. I mean, it’s both a sign of weakness and a sign of fear, as I indicated before. The President and his party are afraid of the voters, and they are trying to manipulate the maps in Texas so that they can rig the election in 2026, and people need to understand: this is not just a Texas problem. I mean, you know, the margin in the House of Representatives is now, I guess, three seats or so. What they’re trying to get is five seats out of Texas with the thought that that will be an insurance policy to somehow keep an unpopular party with unpopular policies, unpopular candidates in power in the United States House of Representatives. And to have a President of the United States make that kind of statement, I mean, it’s not, it’s as you say. He’s saying the quiet part out loud. He’s not saying that there’s a basis for this other than just “give me five seats so that I will have those protections that we need.” […]

• HOLDER: I think this is all about power. It’s all about the acquisition and the maintenance of power. It’s about the fear that they have of the people. And I think that this body, this committee and all Americans have to do all that we can to oppose that which they are trying to do, which is, at base, fundamentally un-American.

Padilla also asked Professor Levitt about the Trump Administration’s potential Hatch Act violations as a result of their partisan redistricting push. Levitt called the redistricting attempt “flatly unlawful,” emphasizing the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling that excessive partisan gerrymanders are unconstitutional and criticizing the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s recent letter to Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The DOJ letter purports that they have “serious concerns regarding the legality” of four majority-minority districts represented by Democrats, giving Texas a pretext for their gerrymander, despite the state previously defending their district lines and arguing for several years that they had utilized a race-blind process for developing them.

• PADILLA: In addition to the disregard, disrespect to voters of this whole exercise, as I mentioned in my opening statement, there’s a genuine significant concern about Hatch Act violations when the President of the United States and those around him are clearly utilizing their position and resources for partisan political purposes. Professor Levitt, are we on track here? Can you share your thoughts?

• LEVITT: Yeah, lamentably, I think we are, Ranking Member Padilla. To have the Texas legislators violate their oaths of office by acting unconstitutionally and unlawfully to erect an excessive partisan gerrymander — the Supreme Court said nine to nothing in 2019 that excessive partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. It is inconsistent with democratic principles. So, to have a number of Texas legislators about to violate their own oaths that they have sworn is alarming. I share Attorney General Holder’s concern that to have that cheer-led from the lawn of the White House and from the Department of Justice is even more alarming. It is both unconstitutional and unlawful. You have passed, Congress has passed, laws that prohibit the use of public office, including the offices in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice for any partisan purpose. And the letter that was sent to Texas that Texas relied on a month after disclaiming exactly the same arguments was such shoddy pretext that it is impossible to understand that letter as anything other than a partisan act, and issued from the Department of Justice that’s flatly unlawful.

Video of Padilla’s first round of questioning is available here, and his second round of questioning is available here.

Padilla’s opening remarks from today’s spotlight forum are available here.

In addition to Attorney General Holder and Professor Levitt, Democratic Senators also heard today from North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Allison Riggs and Vet Voice Foundation Chief Executive Officer Janessa Goldbeck on systematic attacks on the right to vote.

Read Attorney General Eric Holder’s opening testimony here.

Read Professor Justin Levitt’s opening testimony here and his full written testimony here.

Read Associate Justice Allison Riggs’ opening testimony here.

Read Vet Voice CEO Janessa Goldbeck’s opening testimony here. The Rules Committee Democrats’ spotlight forum series continues to underscore the dangers of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented attacks on election security, integrity, and funding required to smoothly administer elections and protect American democracy. The first spotlightforum in May focused on Congressional Republicans’ Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act and Trump’s illegal anti-voter executive order, both of which threaten to disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens.

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