US president has urged Republicans to redraw map to help the party net a handful of seats in the midterms next year.
Published On 3 Aug 2025
Texas Democrats are leaving the state en masse in an attempt to prevent the state’s House of Representatives from holding a vote on Monday on new congressional maps that Republicans hope will win them several additional US House seats in the 2026 midterm elections to buttress their narrow majority.
The dramatic move on Sunday could expose Democrats to fines and other penalties, with the state’s attorney general having previously threatened to arrest them if they took such an action. Refusing to attend legislative sessions is a civil violation, so Democrats legally could not be jailed, and it is unclear who has the power to carry out the warrants.
Democrats have cast the decision to leave the state as a last-ditch effort to stop Republicans who hold full control of the Texas government from pushing through a rare mid-decade redrawing of the congressional map at the direction of President Donald Trump.
Trump is eager to avoid a repeat of his first term, when Democrats flipped