Texas House Democrats who fled their state to stall a Republican redistricting effort are returning Monday, the caucus introduced, ending their 15-day holdout.
Once the Democrats return to the Texas Capitol in Austin, the GOP-dominated legislature can have the two-thirds quorum essential to advance new congressional maps aimed toward creating 5 extra Republican-leaning seats ahead of subsequent yr’s midterm elections.
The Texas House of Representatives will reconvene at 12 p.m. CT (1 p.m. ET). GOP leaders have but to set a timeline for passing the maps, but it surely may occur as quickly as this week.
Democrats had fled to blue states — together with Illinois, New York and Massachusetts — as they confronted civil arrest warrants pushed by GOP officers in Texas to pressure them again into the House chamber.
“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation — reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” stated state Rep. Gene Wu, who leads Democrats in the Texas House.
“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left. Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire legislators across the country how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses.”
At President Donald Trump’s urging, Gov. Greg Abbott and Republicans who management the state House and Senate launched the effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts mid-decade — a break from most states’ typical follow of redistricting as soon as a decade, after the completion of the US Census.
It’s a part of the celebration’s effort to maintain onto its slender House majority in subsequent yr’s midterm elections — one which additionally consists of lobbying GOP officers in Indiana and Missouri to change their maps to flip Democratic-held seats into favorable floor for Republicans, and will see the celebration add extra GOP-leaning seats in Ohio, which is required by state legislation to redistrict.
The Texas effort has set off a nationwide gerrymandering arms race. In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed retribution, proposing a measure that will set off new maps that might assist Democrats decide up 5 extra seats in the state — however provided that Texas strikes ahead with its redistricting plan.
Texas House Democrats had laid out two situations to return to the state. California would have to introduce its proposed new maps to neutralize the Texas effort, they stated, and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows would have to adjourn the first particular session Abbott had referred to as. Both of these situations had been met on Friday.
Abbott referred to as a second particular session, which started instantly after the adjournment of the first one. But the House is blocked from doing enterprise till sufficient Democrats return to the chamber to present the quorum required beneath its guidelines.
This week marks a flashpoint in an escalating and unprecedented struggle over redistricting, with the nation’s two most populous states taking heart stage and management of the US House throughout the second half of Trump’s time period doubtlessly at stake.
California Democratic lawmakers may take simply three days to advance new congressional maps supposed to offset Republican redistricting efforts in Texas.
Legislation asking voters to approve the new maps is anticipated to be launched Monday when lawmakers return to Sacramento from their summer season recess, with last passage as early as Thursday, in accordance to an individual acquainted with the Democratic planning. It will probably be heard in a number of committees alongside the manner.
In pushing Texas and different states to redraw their congressional traces mid-decade, Republicans have undertaken extraordinary efforts to protect their unified maintain on energy in Washington, prompting Democrats to take into account equally unorthodox countermeasures.
Texas House Democrats have stated they plan to struggle the redistricting invoice on the ground, laying out their case in opposition to the measure ahead of anticipated authorized challenges in the coming months.
They argue they introduced nationwide consideration to the GOP-led redistricting in Texas and helped create the momentum for California’s counteroffensive and calls in New York and different Democratic-led states to redraw their maps.
But their choices to cease Republicans had been all the time restricted, wanting staying out of Texas for the subsequent year-plus. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that he would maintain calling particular classes till the new maps handed.
Once a quorum is met, the legislative course of to approve the congressional maps will kick off, together with consideration in the redistricting committee and debate and votes on the ground. The state Senate, which handed a redistricting invoice in the first particular session, will undergo an identical course of. The Senate’s redistricting committee accepted the map on Sunday night time after holding a public listening to on the concern.
The GOP’s proposal would create five new districts friendlier to Trump and Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. It would seemingly pressure Democratic US Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett to run in opposition to one another in a redrawn district.
GOP leaders haven’t laid out a timeline for last passage of the new map, but it surely may come as quickly as this week.
When California lawmakers return from their summer season recess on Monday, Democrats there’ll take the first step towards redrawing congressional boundaries to give them a better probability at successful 5 extra seats — a rare transfer supposed to counteract Texas’ mid-decade redistricting.
Unlike in Texas, the laws into consideration may also require voter approval to override a constitutionally mandated impartial redistricting fee. Lawmakers can have to transfer rapidly; the California secretary of state’s workplace gave the legislature a Friday deadline to make the November poll, and payments should be in print for 72 hours earlier than they are often voted on.
Democrats are anticipated to formally introduce the laws Monday, with last passage pegged for Thursday. Because lawmakers are proposing to change the state structure, two-thirds of every chamber should vote in favor of it to move. Democrats maintain three-quarters of the seats in each chambers.
The State Assembly returns at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET). The State Senate reconvenes an hour later.
California Republicans, who’ve little energy in Sacramento to sluggish the redistricting push, are nonetheless carefully monitoring how Democrats proceed. GOP lawmakers are anticipating Democrats will put ahead a bundle of legislative proposals that won’t solely advance the new maps but in addition define how they intend to maintain and pay for a statewide election in lower than three months, an individual shut to the Republican caucus advised NCS.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a possible contender for the Democrats’ presidential 2028 nomination, is already planning for a statewide campaign to help a referendum. A victory may assist Democrats win again the US House subsequent yr and provides Newsom a lift in the subsequent presidential major.
But some important opposition to the proposed referendum is already forming. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday posted an image of himself understanding whereas sporting a T-shirt that stated “F*** the politicians/Terminate gerrymandering.” The caption learn: “I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle.”
Charles Munger Jr., the son of the late Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman, has signaled he intends to struggle the Democratic-led initiative. Munger spent greater than $12 million in 2010 to entrench the impartial redistricting fee in the state structure, and he’ll struggle any efforts to circumvent it, his spokeswoman Amy Thoma Tan stated in a press release responding to California Democrats on Thursday.
“Two wrongs do not make a right, and California shouldn’t stoop to the same tactics as Texas,” Thoma Tan stated. “Instead, we should push other states to adopt our independent, non-partisan commission model across the country. That’s how we can protect and defend democracy.”
Newsom’s strategy has additionally led to a divide amongst good authorities teams which have historically opposed gerrymandering. While the League of Women Voters continues to urge California lawmakers to reject the redistricting push, leaders at Common Cause have stated they won’t proactively reject “counterbalancing” efforts achieved in response to different states. The group stated Wednesday it will not oppose redistricting pushes which might be proportional responses to different states, contain public participation and have a set expiration date, amongst different standards.
Leaders at the group stated they might decide whether or not to oppose the California push after the full proposal has been launched and judged in opposition to its rubric.
“We welcome the governor to adopt our fairness criteria,” stated Omar Noureldin, the group’s senior vp of coverage and litigation technique. “And if the maps that are proposed in the process that’s laid out in its totality meet that fairness criteria, then we won’t oppose it.”
This story has been up to date with extra data.