Buckle up and take that cowboy nap, this is a Texas-sized email. And it’s as spicy as barbeque sauce.
In June, President Trump’s political team decided they were more Machiavellian than Karl Rove and encouraged Texas Republicans, led by Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, to redraw their US House maps in a rare, mid-cycle partisan redistricting scheme to gerrymander an additional five Republican House seats.
Helpfully and surely in a completely unrelated effort, the Trump Department of Justice issued a letter to Texas on July 7 declaring “serious concerns” with Texas’ congressional district maps due to race-based considerations. This came just weeks after litigation focused around the 2021 maps concluded, during which the defendants insisted their maps were color blind. While the Supreme Court has, thus far (soon to be overturned!), upheld efforts to take historic racism into consideration when drawing districts, they have also upheld partisan redistricting as constitutional, in a 2019 decision authored by the so-called swing vote institutionalist, Chief Justice John Roberts.
On July 9, Gov. Abbott called a special session of the legislature, seemingly to address numerous measures aimed at disaster relief from the recent floods. Abbott also added redistricting to the agenda; it was the first item brought up by the Republican-dominated legislature on its first day, July 21. Draft maps were released on July 31 amid widespread protests at the Capitol.
The new maps would shift two Latino-majority districts in South Texas, both currently held by Democrats, to slightly favor Republicans (both would be +5 GOP-lean). Through a process known as “cracking and packing,” new districts pack Democratic-leaning Black voters into Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s district and dilute Democratic voters in Rep. Marc Veasey’s Fort Worth-based district, likely creating a primary between the two. Additionally, Reps. Lloyd Doggett, the dean of the congressional delegation, and Greg Cesar, a rising star and the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, see their districts combined into a Central Texas seat anchored between San Antonio and Austin. Rep. Julie Johnson’s seat outside Dallas is packed to favor Republicans. Several other Democratic-leaning districts add additional Black and Latino voters, likely in an effort to forestall legal challenges based on what remains of the Voting Rights Act.
While these may not be the final maps (and congressional Republicans don’t sound too happy about having to run under new maps, in some cases in less friendly districts), we expect some version of +3 to 5 seats for Republicans to take effect unless we can stop this blatant power grab. Maps must be finalized, including legal challenges, by the end of the year, ahead of March 3, 2026 primaries.
Map courtesy of the Texas Tribune
On August 3, Texas House Democrats left the state thereby denying the legislature a quorum. At least 51 Democrats must remain out of state for the duration of the 30-day special session in order to delay the vote. Many Texas Democrats fled to Illinois, while others are in New York, and a delegation is attending the National Conference of State Legislators in Boston. Legislators are fined $500 each per day. Gov. Abbott has threatened to attempt to remove them from office, and just yesterday the Republicans in the state house issued arrest warrants in an effort to halt the boycott; few expect legal challenges to these threats to hold up in court.
This ain’t their first rodeo, as Texans might say. In 2003, Democrats fled the state twice in an effort to prevent US House Whip Tom Delay’s (remember him? remember this?) extreme gerrymander. And in 2021, Texas Democrats left the state for six weeks in a symbolic protest of the post-census gerrymander and other voting restrictions. (In 1840, while serving in the Illinois state house, Abraham Lincoln famously jumped out of a window to break quorum, perhaps serving as the inspiration for Gov. JB Pritzker’s assistance today.)
Other states have threatened both further action and retaliation. Ohio’s maps must be redrawn by the end of the year after a justice was replaced on the Ohio Supreme Court and the Court then struck down maps drawn by an independent commission. Missouri and Florida have threatened their own special sessions to further gerrymander their maps. California and New York have threatened to redraw maps to favor Democrats, although both pose challenges (“We are at war,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday, embracing a plan to redistrict. And California took steps this week to start the special session process). Numerous other blue states prevent mid-cycle redistricting and/or must go through nonpartisan commissions.
So, what can we do? The most important thing to do is to help elevate this into a major national story for weeks and months to come and help non-politicos realize this is a blatant power grab led by Trump and his cronies to prevent fair and democratic elections in 2026. The Texas Tribune is an independent and trusted resource with excellent political reporting. The Associated Press may not be allowed in Trump’s White House but they are all over this story with a redistricting hub on their site. Help bring awareness by posting on social media and talking to friends and neighbors.
Second, you can support women in the legislature via the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee; funds will be distributed to women candidates who are most impacted or likely to face the most competitive general election races. Finally, the Texas Justice Fund is providing legal and logistical support to the Democratic Caucus; it is a long-established Texas organization with deep political know-how in the state.
Please note that no donated funds can or will go to paying lawmakers’ $500-a-day fines; that is prohibited by Texas law. However, local organizers are encouraging donations to the TX HDCC and the TX Justice Fund to support vulnerable lawmakers in their re-election campaigns and other legal and communications aspects of this fight.
You can donate to both organizations via WomenCount or email alexandra@electingwomen.org for additional information.