The Texas Senate might vote Friday to approve new congressional maps drawn to assist Republicans win as many as 5 extra House seats in subsequent yr’s midterm elections.
It’s the final legislative hurdle for the redistricting plan sought by President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott — one which ignited an intensifying, nationwide redistricting arms race.
California Democrats responded to the Texas effort on Thursday by approving their own new congressional maps, a Gov. Gavin Newsom-led bid to nullify the GOP’s positive aspects in Texas by handing Democrats 5 extra favorable House districts.
Newsom’s plan would require one other vital step: In California, the place voters took the facility to attract congressional maps away from lawmakers in 2010, implementing the Democrats’ new maps would require the state to carry an election on November 4 through which voters will probably be requested to approve a constitutional modification to override the strains drawn by the state’s impartial redistricting fee.
The race to redistrict — a course of that sometimes solely takes place as soon as a decade, after the completion of the US Census — is more likely to broaden within the coming weeks. The White House is seeking to Ohio, the place a quirk of state legislation requires the legislature to approve new maps this yr, as nicely as Missouri, Florida, Indiana and South Carolina, the place the celebration is in full management of the state governments, as avenues so as to add extra favorable districts. Democratic governors in Illinois, Maryland and New York have additionally floated redrawing their maps so as to add extra Democratic-leaning districts.
“Game on,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated on X Wednesday after the Texas House handed its new maps.
Mid-decade redistricting is uncommon, and state lawmakers aren’t being coy about why they’re doing so now. Texas state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Republican who sponsored the new congressional map within the House, stated throughout a ground debate Wednesday that he did so “to give Republicans an opportunity where they haven’t in the past.”
California state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat, stated throughout a ground debate Thursday that Republicans “started this madness.”
“Republicans are trying to cheat to win congressional midterm elections under their unpopular president, and Democrats are fighting back. This is about trying to level the national playing field so we can have something close to fair elections for Congress in 2026,” Blakespear stated.
In Texas, the Republican-dominated state Senate nonetheless should approve the redistricting plan earlier than it heads to Abbott’s desk to be signed into legislation. The Senate adjourned Thursday evening with out voting on the new maps, and is scheduled to reconvene at 10 a.m. CT Friday.
However, the drama largely appeared to finish Monday, when Democratic House members who had fled the state for 15 days to disclaim the House the two-thirds quorum it must do enterprise returned to Austin.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows sought to forestall Democrats from leaving the state once more on Monday by locking the chamber doorways and requiring the Democrats who had boycotted to signal permission slips agreeing to be escorted by a Department of Public Safety officer who would return them when the House reconvened Wednesday. State Rep. Nicole Collier refused and remained on the House ground for 2 nights; extra Democrats ripped up their permission slips and joined her for the second evening.
Those Democrats vowed Wednesday evening, minutes after the House’s 88-52 party-line vote, to wage a authorized battle in opposition to the new congressional maps.
“This fight is far from over,” stated state Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic chief. “Our best shot is in the courts.”
Before they’ve even been signed into legislation, the new maps are already reshaping the midterm panorama. Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who represents what’s now the thirty seventh District, stated he wouldn’t search reelection if the new maps are upheld by courts. His retirement would stave off a doubtlessly bruising main in opposition to one other Democratic congressman, Rep. Greg Casar, whose present district can be retooled to favor Republicans beneath the new proposed maps.
Unlike the Texas redistricting invoice, which required no constitutional modification, the California effort moved in three components. One invoice is the constitutional modification; one other funds the November 4 election; and one other contains the maps themselves. All three handed each chambers of the legislature on Thursday on largely party-line votes.
The California redistricting plan will solely take impact if voters approve the modification of the state’s structure in that November election to briefly exchange the state’s impartial redistricting fee’s House maps with new Democratic maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.
California Republicans have lengthy acknowledged that their greatest likelihood of blocking the redistricting effort is by defeating it on the poll field. A coalition of gerrymandering opponents and Republican leaders has already began to kind to defeat the initiative, recognized as Proposition 50. State and nationwide Democrats are additionally making ready to defend the initiative.
Newsom argued that California’s effort is “in stark contrast to what you’re seeing in Texas,” as a result of voters should log out earlier than the new districts can take impact.
“I signed the first bill ever signed by a governor of any state in US history that will place in front of the voters maps for their determination. It’s the most democratic redistricting effort that has been advanced,” he stated in a livestream with supporters Thursday.
The plan from California Democrats initially included a set off to solely take impact if one other state engaged in mid-decade redistricting, however that provision was eliminated on Thursday, sooner or later after the Texas House handed the GOP-drawn congressional maps.
“Because Texas Republicans have voted,” the set off language “is no longer necessary,” Nick Miller, communications director for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, stated in an announcement.