Texas House Democrats have returned to Austin after remaining out of state for two weeks to derail Republican efforts to redraw the state’s political maps. Now, the Democrats say they’re back in the Texas House chambers to build a legal case against “racist gerrymandering.”
The House Democrats had said they wouldn’t return until the first special session ended and other states such as California and New York present plans for redrawing their maps in retaliation. After the first special session ended Friday, a new one is already underway under orders of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
“With their two conditions for return met, House Democrats are ready to build the essential legal record needed to demonstrate that the discriminatory Texas map violates federal law and should be overturned,” the returning lawmakers said in an emailed statement.
California released its newly proposed maps Friday evening, a plan that could give Democrats there five more seats to counteract the GOP potentially picking up the same number Texas.
“We have the opportunity to de facto end the Trump presidency in less than 18 months. That’s what’s at stake,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a press conference earlier this month, referring to the possibility of a Democrat-controlled U.S. House.
California lawmakers plan to vote on the proposed map Thursday, Aug. 21. Other Democrat-controlled states that appear to be moving to redraw their maps include New York, Maryland and New Jersey.
Redistricting is even causing a rift within the GOP. Some Republicans in other states have pushed back against Trump’s request to redraw their Congressional maps, including New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who flatly refused.
In Indiana, former Gov. Mitch Daniels called the mid-decade redistricting “just wrong,” and hard-right U.S. Rep. Jim Lucas bashed it as “politically, optically horrible.” In other states, Republicans have even presented legislation to ban the practice.
However, Missouri seems to be moving toward redrawing its maps after much coaxing from the Trump administration, Politico reports.
While the Texas Democrats were gone, state Republicans treated them as criminals, engaging in surveillance and stakeouts, setting up tip lines and issuing civil warrants for their arrest.
“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 House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in an emailed statement.
Now, the Democrats have returned to launch a new phase in the fight, which they said will include building a record in the chamber for a lawsuit against Abbott’s redistricting scheme.
“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” Wu added. “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.”
The House Democrats’ team building the legal case against the map will be led by Caucus Chair Gene Wu, MALC Chair Ramón Romero, Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Barbara Gervin Hawkins, Dean of the House Senfronia Thompson and more than a dozen other members, who plan to “systematically expose how the map violates the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution,” the party said in its statement.
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This article appears in Aug 7-20, 2025.
