Texas is as soon as once more on the heart of a political storm. Gov. Greg Abbott known as a second particular session on the Texas Legislature on Aug. 15 in one other try to move a mid-decade redistricting plan.
President Donald Trump urged Republican leaders in Texas to safe 5 GOP-leaning U.S. Home seats forward of the 2026 midterm elections. Abbott known as the primary particular session in early July to debate 18 agenda objects, together with the redistricting plan. On Aug. 15, each chambers voted to adjourn sine die, failing to move the maps when Home Democrats fled Texas to interrupt the quorum.
“We killed the corrupt particular session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation and rallied Democrats nationwide to affix this existential battle for truthful illustration — reshaping your entire 2026 panorama,” mentioned Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, chair of the Home Democratic Caucus, in a press release.
With many lawmakers now again in Austin underneath the watchful eye of the Division of Public Security (DPS), quorum has been restored, paving the best way for Republicans to advance their maps.
The second Particular Session will embody payments on congressional redistricting plans, youth camp security, warning techniques in flood-prone areas, elimination of the STAAR take a look at, THC regulation and abortion, amongst others.
Democratic walkout: Did it assist?
Within the second week of August, Home Democrats started to return to Texas, ending their two-week hiatus and granting Republicans the required quorum.
LIVE: Texas Home of Representatives Redistricting Listening to https://t.co/8gGGhcnD9v
— Texas Home Democrats (@TexasHDC) August 18, 2025
On Aug. 18, the Home formally reconvened and Republican lawmakers continued to work on the map. The redistricting committee as soon as once more superior a proposal on new congressional maps with some adjustments from the initially proposed maps, which is predicted to succeed in a full Home vote quickly.
In the meantime, lawmakers now face tighter procedural guidelines. The roughly 25 lawmakers who returned needed to settle for escorts from the DPS. Rep. Nicole Collier refused to signal the permission slip, spending the evening within the Home chamber.
This was my evening, bonnet and all, within the #txlege. #thisisme pic.twitter.com/46YgqbMUk8
— Nicole Collier (@NicoleCollier95) August 19, 2025
For Rep. Jolanda Jones (D-Houston), the battle is deeply private. She has refused to return to Austin, arguing that being underneath round the clock DPS surveillance is akin to “modern-day slave patrols.”
“I’m not gonna submit myself, give permission to be taken again to a plantation, to be pressured to vote on maps which can be gonna disenfranchise congressional districts. It’s 2025, not 1825. I’m free. I used to be not born on a plantation…I’m standing on my freedom.”
State Rep. Jolanda Jones
“I’m not gonna submit myself, give permission to be taken again to a plantation, to be pressured to vote on maps which can be gonna disenfranchise congressional districts,” Jones advised the Defender. “It’s 2025, not 1825. I’m free. I used to be not born on a plantation…I’m standing on my freedom.”
Jones warned that underneath the proposed traces, Black voters in Houston would lose two congressional seats and Latino voters one. Her fears are additionally echoed in Dallas.
“I take into consideration historical past,” Jones added. “If I have been alive in the course of the Montgomery Bus Boycott or after they marched throughout the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I might’ve tried to get there any manner I may. I do consider that this can be a civil rights second and I’m proud that I’m on the suitable aspect of historical past.”
Nationwide implications and responses
Texas’s redistricting saga catalyzed a nationwide push: California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a proposal to redraw congressional maps, probably giving Democrats 5 new seats. This transfer displays a broader battle for the U.S. Home.
Freshman lawmaker State Rep. Lauren Simmons (D-Houston) additionally broke quorum and known as Abbott’s determination to prioritize redistricting over flood restoration and catastrophe aid a case of “occasion over folks.”
“He [Abbott] may launch flood aid and assets to the folks of Texas if he so chooses to,” Simmons mentioned. “However he’s not; he desires to offer Trump 5 congressional seats. We did what we may so far as making certain that this was lifted to a nationwide dialog and now it has to play out on the Home flooring.”
Nonetheless, the arithmetic in Austin is obvious. Republicans maintain 88 seats to Democrats’ 62 within the Home, giving them the votes to move the maps as soon as they attain the ground.
“They’re zeroing in on Sylvester Turner’s district (18th Congressional District) as a result of he handed away and there’s no incumbent in there,” mentioned Paul Brace, Emeritus Clarence Carter Chair in Authorized Research at Rice College. “The very best time to flip a district is when there’s no incumbent.”
Brace famous that lawsuits are virtually inevitable, though he’s skeptical they’ll succeed.
For the Democrats holding out, the prices are mounting. Together with day by day $500 fines, legislators face lowered working budgets.
Jones acknowledged that her absence has hampered her congressional marketing campaign (18th) and regulation follow, however mentioned she has no alternative.
“Now with these slave patrols [referring to DPS], I’m involved about my private well being,” Jones mentioned. “The historical past of Black folks and the police is just not one in all safety and serving. It’s one in all oppression. I take my oath to defend my constituents of Home District 147 critically. I can’t choose myself over my constituents.”
Simmons described the non-public toll of leaving Texas, from bomb threats to doxxing on social media.
“We’re full-time representatives paid on a part-time wage,” Simmons mentioned. “This isn’t one thing that we took flippantly. A few of us could lose jobs.”
What comes subsequent?
The Senate has already handed the brand new traces, and the Home is predicted to approve them inside days. The particular session may conclude as early as this week, delivering Republicans the mid-decade redistricting they sought.
Democrats are making ready to take the battle to the courts and the poll field.“Now we have excessive confidence that the courts will really discover these maps to be unlawful,” Wu mentioned. “The query is extra in regards to the timing of it and whether or not or not there’s sufficient time left.”
