The Texas redistricting fight is stretching into a second week as Democrats remain out of state to block a GOP map. On Morning Joe, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the Texas GOP of trying to “weaponize the FBI” while ignoring flood relief and focusing on gerrymandering to “cling on to power.

Will the FBI help the Republican Party force through a partisan redistricting plan in Texas, or not? The answer to that question is of vital importance to sustaining American democracy. Republican state legislative leaders want to redraw Texas’s congressional districts to give their party as many as five more seats in next year’s midterm elections.