Texas House Democrats began returning to their state on Monday after spending two weeks in the Chicago area and other parts of the country to prevent the Republican majority in their legislature from passing a new gerrymandered congressional map aimed at eliminating five Democratic seats.
The Democratic lawmakers left the Lone Star State on Aug. 3 to avoid a vote on the remap during a special legislative session called by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott ostensibly to provide relief measures following the deadly July 4th floods that killed more than 100 people in Texas’ Hill Country. But when it became clear the remap efforts were also on the Republican agenda, Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives sought refuge in blue states such as Illinois, New York and Massachusetts to deny the GOP the quorum needed to enact the unusual mid-decade redrawing of Texas’ congressional districts.
The special session ended Friday, though Abbott has called a second special session to pass the GOP-favored map.
“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,” Texas state Rep. Gene Wu, the leader of that state’s House Democratic Caucus, said in a news release. “We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left.”
Though Wu and the other Democrats have declared their walkout a success, there was also an inherent acknowledgment that Republicans will ultimately succeed in passing the remap. The Texas Democrats said the quorum-break spurred action in other blue states, such as California, which is in the midst of redrawing its congressional districts to offset any Texas gains, and drew national attention to their cause.
“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,” Wu said.
The Republican remap efforts are being done at the behest of President Donald Trump, whose administration is encouraging similar actions in other Republican-led states as a means of holding the GOP’s slim majority in next year’s midterm elections for the remainder of Trump’s second term.
In a news release Monday, the Texas Democrats noted how California, New York, and other blue-leaning states are moving forward with their own plans “to block manipulated gains Trump may seek.” After a meeting with Texas House Democrats, California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced legislation that would move a mid-decade redistricting effort in California to flip five congressional seats Democratic in hopes of counterbalancing the Texas efforts.
Typically, political maps are redrawn only once per decade following the federal census, and Texas Democrats have called out Republicans for trying to change the rules and disenfranchise Texas citizens for purely political reasons.
While Gov. JB Pritzker has said there are no current plans for Illinois’ Democratic legislative majority to call for remapping Illinois’ congressional map, he hasn’t completely ruled out the option. He’s also defended hosting the Texas Democrats over their last two weeks in suburban Chicago, noting how he has been talking to them since late June about how he’d support them if they chose to leave Texas to prevent a Republican-majority vote on new maps. Pritzker reiterated that support on social media Sunday evening.
“For the past few weeks, the fight has been here in Illinois, as we provided safe haven for members enduring threats of violence and arrest. Thanks to them, the world knows what’s happening in Texas and Democrats have a plan to push back,” Pritzker said on X. “I am ready, just as I was during that first conversation, to stand with them and with every American fighting to preserve this country that I love.”
Comments