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In June 2025, lawmakers in the U.S. state ofTexas began considering a process of mid-decadelegislative redistricting plan to give members of theRepublican Party in the state an advantage bygerrymandering the state'scongressional districts ahead of the2026 United States House of Representatives elections.
On August 20, 2025, theTexas State House passed congressional maps that would target five Democratic-held seats. The vote was 88–52, a party-line vote. The Congressional map targetsMarc Veasey,Greg Casar,Lloyd Doggett,Julie Johnson, andAl Green.[2] On August 23, 2025, the Texas State Senate passed the map with a vote 18–8. It then headed to governorGreg Abbott,[3] who officially signed the new congressional map into law on August 29, 2025.[4]
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In June 2025,The New York Times reported that theTrump administration had urgedRepublican leadership in the state of Texas toredistrict the state's legislative boundaries in order to benefit Republicans. The plan elicited concern from some Texas Republicans, who argued that it could hurt incumbent Republicans. An official associated withDonald Trump warned lawmakers that the president was noting who would support his plan. RepresentativeMichael McCaul held a twenty-minute meeting in theUnited States Capitol to discuss the plan. According to theTimes, the proposal began amid concern from Trump and his allies that a Republican loss in the2026 United States House of Representatives elections could damage Trump's legislative agenda and lead to investigations.[5] According toThe Texas Tribune, Trump's plan was met by skepticism from GovernorGreg Abbott; his concerns were alleviated after a call with Trump.[6]
On August 4, 2025,House SpeakerDustin Burrows appointed a new committee for redistricting efforts. The committee is chaired by RepresentativeCody Vasut, with initial members to include 12 Republicans and nine Democrats.[7]
On July 9, 2025, Abbott called for a special session of theTexas Legislature to discuss redistricting.[8] The impetus for the session was a letter from theUnited States Department of Justice giving the Texas Legislature the legal authority to redistrict its legislative boundaries, citing discrimination in fourmajority-minority congressional districts; the letter led to Abbott acknowledging that some districts were drawn "along strict racial lines", a reversal in the state's prior stance.[9] The Texas Legislature's Republican majority gaveDemocrats limited options to contest the effort.[10] U.S. House Minority LeaderHakeem Jeffries andDemocratic National Committee ChairmanKen Martin held a call on July 14 to discuss a response to the redistricting proposal, including the possibility of walking out of the session. The following day, Trump held his own call with Texas Republicans, urging them to give the state five additional Republican seats.[11]
The special session began on July 21. At a press conference, state Democrats vowed to prolong the redistricting effort as much as possible through several means, including thefilibuster, delaying hearings, and walking out.[7] At the first of at least seven House redistricting committee hearings three days later, criticism mounted from some constituents and Democrats, who focused on the lack of publicly available maps.[12] At a hearing at theUniversity of Houston, Committee ChairmanCody Vasut stated that additional hearings would be scheduled after maps were filed.[13] Concurrently, Texas Democrats began fundraising in preparation to leave the state; a rules change approved two years prior, after Democrats had broken quorum to attempt to stop an election law from getting passed, imposes aUS$500 fine per day and the possibility of arrest on lawmakers who break quorum, though lawmakers cannot use campaign funds to pay for the fines. U.S. RepresentativeJasmine Crockett stated that she was willing to fund the walkout.[14] Fundraising involved establishing aUS$20 million fund, the Lone Star Fund, and aUS$2 million advertisement campaign.[15] Several Texas House Democrats traveled toCalifornia,Illinois, andNew Mexico to meet with GovernorsGavin Newsom,JB Pritzker, andMichelle Lujan Grisham, respectively.[16]
Texas Republicans defended the map in a meeting on August 1 amid protests in theTexas State Capitol.[17] The following day, the Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting advanced the redrawn congressional map.[18] On August 3, most House Democrats left the state, denying Republicans a quorum to vote on the map. A majority left that afternoon to head toChicago, while some traveled toNew York to meet with GovernorKathy Hochul and others convened at theNational Conference of State Legislatures with someSenate Democrats.[19] In response, Abbott ordered Democrats to return to the Capitol by August 4, threatening to remove them from office through a process outlined in a non-binding legal opinion by Attorney GeneralKen Paxton and warning of bribery charges for fundraising to pay for aUS$500 per day fine. Abbott stated that he would move to extradite "any potential out-of-state felons", while Pritzker affirmed that he would protect the lawmakers in his state.[20] While Abbott cannot legally seek extradition for lawmakers breaking quorum, Paxton may filequo warranto petitions for each of the lawmakers to remove them from office—a process that would be time-intensive and involve multiple special elections whose winners must remain in the state to have a quorum—or file charges against the lawmakers for bribery.[21]
On August 4, 2025, the Texas House voted 85–6 to issue arrest warrants for the Democratic House members who left Texas. All of the no votes on the warrants were Democrats. The vote was seen as largely ceremonial because the arrest warrants cannot be enforced outside of Texas.[22]
SenatorJohn Cornyn stated that theFBI had agreed to help "find" the Democratic lawmakers.[23]
On August 18, after the special session had expired, and followingCalifornia's gerrymandering proposal to counter Republican gains in Texas, most of the Texas Democrats returned to the state.[24] Abbott had already called for another special session, which started that day. The Democrats who returned were told that they could not leave the state without written permission from the Republican house speaker, and each was given a permission form to sign, agreeing to be escorted by a Texas public safety officer at all times. RepresentativeNicole Collier refused to sign the form and was then prevented from leaving the House floor that evening, at which point she filed ahabeas corpus petition in court, challenging the legality of locking her inside. Abbott and Paxton also petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to remove the Democrats who fled from office.[25]
The proposed redistricting map intends to give Republicans five additional seats in the2026 United States House of Representatives elections. The map splits voters of color inTarrant County and altersTexas's 35th congressional district, established in a court order by theUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia. It establishes two majority-white districts, two majority-African American districts, and one majority-Hispanic district.[26] The map condenses severalDemocratic incumbents against each other, setting up the possibility of primary conflicts,[27] but does not ensure a Republican victory.[28] The map estimates that Hispanic voters in three districts will support Republicans withoutDonald Trump on the ballot.[29] In two multiracial districts, the proposed map does not alleviate concerns raised by theUnited States Department of Justice in its letter.[30] According to RepresentativeTodd Ames Hunter, the map was created by the law firm Butler Snow.[17]
In July 2025,The Texas Tribune reported that Democrats representingCalifornia in theUnited States House of Representatives and allies of GovernorGavin Newsom began considering retaliatory redistricting measures; a spokesperson for Newsom denied theTribune's reporting.[31] At a press conference inLos Angeles, Newsom publicly called for redrawing California's congressional districts.[32] After meeting with Texas Democrats, Newsom andIllinois GovernorJB Pritzker suggested that their states could follow in redistricting.[33] In theNew York State Legislature, Democrats introduced a bill to allow the state to redraw its congressional boundaries every five years if another state does so first.[34] A spokesperson forMaryland GovernorWes Moore toldThe Baltimore Sun that Moore would "evaluate all options as states around the country make decisions regarding redistricting", but did not answer questions on whether he supported a bill introduced by House majority leaderDavid Moon that would automatically restart the state's redistricting process if another state passed new congressional districts.[35] TheDemocratic Legislative Campaign Committee urged Democratic-led legislatures to redistrict.[36]
To avert a "redistricting war", RepresentativeKevin Kiley (CA-03), whose seat would be vulnerable if California updated their maps, introduced legislation to ban mid-decade redistricting efforts and nullify maps approved before the2030 United States census, though Kiley didn't mention stopping redistricting in Texas, instead citing GovernorGavin Newsom's intent to redistrict in California in retaliation as a cause.[37]
According toThe Texas Tribune, state officials could request litigation regarding Texas's legislative boundaries drawn after the2020 United States census be dropped if the state redistricts.[38]
On August 6, 2025, abomb threat forced 400 people to evacuate the hotel inSt. Charles, Illinois, where some Democratic lawmakers were staying.[39] The St. Charles Police Department stated thatfirst responders arrived at the hotel around 7:15 a.m. and "conducted a thorough search and no device was found", and that "In response to the threat, 400 people were immediately evacuated and the area was secured asbomb squad units conducted their investigation."[40]
The Texas Tribune also reported that House Democratic LeaderGene Wu had faced an onslaught ofanti-Asian andxenophobic remarks, including fromstate senatorMayes Middleton, who posted "Is Gene Wu back inChina?" onTwitter.[41]