On Tuesday, strategist Alex DeGrasse joined Steve Bannon’s WarRoom with a clear warning: Democrats are already moving to lock in permanent House control through aggressive gerrymandering.
To stop them, MAGA must go "smash mouth,” Bannon said—seizing every possible redistricting gain, forcing a new census that excludes illegal immigrants, and mobilizing state legislatures to redraw maps before the 2026 midterms.
Quick Clip:
BANNON: California is the 5th-largest economy on earth, 40% vote Republican, yet we'll now have only 4 seats. New England? 25 seats to none with 40% Republican votes.
They don’t care; they crush us. We have to go full maximalist and play hardball the same way. pic.twitter.com/4S9wW7UV8c
— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) September 9, 2025
The WarRoom opened with a victory lap: Michigan’s "false electors” case had just collapsed, a symbolic win for MAGA’s legal resistance. But Bannon quickly pivoted to the next battlefield—redistricting—and brought in Alex DeGrasse, one of the movement’s sharpest young tacticians. His message was blunt: Republicans cannot coast on 2024’s success. The fight for congressional power is underway, and it is being played out through state maps, the census, and institutional control.
DeGrasse laid out three converging vectors that, if seized aggressively, could flip 10–15 House seats red before November 2026:
Supreme Court rulings giving states new leeway in drawing maps.
A mid-decade census correction—ordered by President Trump—that excludes non-citizens, reversing the 2020 census bias that padded blue states like New York and California.
Immediate redistricting action in red-controlled states, where legislatures have left seats on the table.
The math is stark. In Texas alone, DeGrasse said five new Republican seats are already in play, with two or three more possible. Florida sits on another five, if Governor Ron DeSantis overcomes Tallahassee’s culture of deal-cutting. Missouri could pick up two, Ohio three, Kentucky one, and Indiana one—where MAGA leaders are rallying alongside Senators Jim Banks, Bruce Blakeman, and Raheem Kassam.
The flip side? Democrats aren’t waiting. DeGrasse warned that in California, Obama and Eric Holder’s redistricting machine is plotting to tilt the map to 48-4—a near wipeout of Republicans despite a 40% GOP vote share. In New England, Democrats already hold all 25 seats, effectively locking out Republicans, despite millions of voters pulling the GOP lever.
"It’s smash mouth,” DeGrasse stressed, echoing Bannon’s call for urgency. "They’re playing to win. So must we.”
The census battle looms largest. A Commerce Department audit confirmed what conservatives suspected: the 2020 headcount gave blue states inflated clout by including millions of illegal immigrants. Those numbers shifted House seats and federal funding to urban centers like Los Angeles and New York—at the expense of red states. President Trump has already declared a new census that excludes non-citizens. DeGrasse estimates the correction could shift 15 or more House seats toward Republican strongholds.
But census reform won’t be enough if state legislatures hesitate. Florida’s stalled action is a case study in missed opportunities. "The seats are there,” DeGrasse reminded listeners, "but only if Republicans stop cutting deals and start drawing maps.”
The WarRoom audience didn’t need a reminder of what’s at stake. Trump’s return to the White House was not the endgame—it was the opening move in a broader institutional war. Redistricting, like judicial appointments and agency control, is the scaffolding of long-term power.
And the opposition is mobilized. Obama has been quietly hosting fundraisers on Martha’s Vineyard to bankroll Holder’s operation, funneling millions into the Democratic mapping war chest. The left understands redistricting isn’t just about lines on paper—it’s about decades of political dominance.
For DeGrasse and Bannon, the conclusion was clear: there’s no margin for error. MAGA must organize at the grassroots, pressure governors and legislators, and strike before Democrats lock in their gerrymandered advantages. Indiana’s upcoming rally is one model. Trump’s involvement in California, though uphill, signals another front in the counteroffensive.
As Bannon summed it up: redistricting is the "ground game of destiny.” For DeGrasse, it’s the ultimate test of whether Republicans will fight like Democrats—maximalist, ruthless, and unrelenting.
The message to MAGA’s base was unmistakable: the time to redraw America’s political map is now, or not at all.
