Democrats Successfully Halt Texas Redistricting

Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state's House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a redrawn congressional map sought by President Trump to shore up Republicans' 2026 midterm prospects.

• After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business, the AP reports. Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member Texas House without at least two-thirds of them present. Democrats hold 62 of the seats in the majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus. Only six Democrats showed up on Monday.
• Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to remove members of the opposition from their seats. On Monday, he called the lawmakers "un-Texan." Democrats have countered that Abbott is using "smoke and mirrors" to assert legal authority he does not have.

• The Republican-dominated House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent members, and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but Democrats who are not in Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities. "Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans," Abbott said in a statement, per the Hill. "By fleeing the state, Texas House Democrats are holding hostage critical legislation to aid flood victims and advance property tax relief."
• "If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences," House Speaker Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later telling reporters that includes fines.
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said it was unlikely that the Democrats could be forced to return to Texas, but he predicted that they would return on their own eventually and Republicans would wait them out, calling special legislative sessions if necessary, the New York Times reports.

• At the center of the escalating impasse is Trump's hope of adding five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas before the upcoming midterms. That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its slim US House majority. Speaking Monday on Fox News, Abbott essentially admitted to the partisan power play, noting that the US Supreme Court has determined "there is nothing illegal" about shaping districts to a majority party's advantage. He acknowledged it as "gerrymandering" before correcting himself to say Texas is "drawing lines."
• More than 1,800 miles away from Austin, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats and argued that their cause should be national. "We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys," Hochul said Monday, flanked by several of the lawmakers who left Texas. Many others are in Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzker has vowed to protect them.