‘If They’re Going to Cheat, We’re Not Going to Play’
In a hotel on the west side of Chicago, about 30 Democratic lawmakers from Texas have taken over the breakfast buffet. There and in meeting rooms, they plot their next move in a fight against their Republican colleagues and Governor Greg Abbott, who have engaged in a brazen play to gerrymander the state’s congressional map at President Donald Trump’s request.
It all began in mid-July when Trump told reporters he wanted Texas to redo its congressional districts to protect the GOP’s slim majority in the House. “Just a simple redrawing, we pick up five seats,” he said. Abbott then heeded the call, announcing a special legislative session to pass a flood-relief bill and a new map that would be more friendly to his party in the midterms. It was an open play to fix the map in Republicans’ favor, considering that redistricting normally happens after the once-a-decade Census.
“It’s reminiscent of when he called Georgia Republicans and asked them to find him 11,000 votes in 2020,” says Representative James Talarico, an Austin-area representative who may run for Senate next year. “Those Georgia Republicans said ‘no.’ Unfortunately, Texas Republicans said, ‘How about Thursday?’”
The current congressional delegation from Texas is made up of 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and one vacancy following the death of Democrat Sylvester Turner in March. But the new map announced last week is expected to add at least five seats to the Republican column by carving up Democratic districts in San Antonio, Houston, the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and the Rio Grande Valley. One of the seats at threat is held by Al Green, who has been representing a largely Black district in Houston since 2005. Another is Joaquin Castro, who represents a large area of San Antonio and says he was specifically written out of his district. “My office got a call from the Texas Legislative Council shortly before we saw those first maps, and they asked me to verify my home address. And then when I saw the map, my home was about a half mile outside of the boundary for the 20th Congressional District that I now represent,” he told Texas Public Radio.
“By redistricting in the middle of the decade, they are cheating,” says Talarico. “If two football teams come out of the locker room at halftime and the team that’s ahead says they want to change the rules for the second half so they can win the game, we would all recognize that as cheating, plain and simple. And if they’re going to cheat, we’re not going to play.”
Texas law requires a quorum of 101 lawmakers (out of 150) for a session, so the majority of Democratic lawmakers left the state. Most went to Illinois, where Governor J.B. Pritzker has been providing logistical support as the Democrats plan their next move and do national press.
“If you’ve paid attention at all to politics in the last year, you have seen a systematic just stripping of Texas rights,” says Representative Josey Garcia. “And that is going to be the model for the nation. If everybody does not stand up and make a stand now, best believe this is coming to a state near you.”
The consequences of the surprise redistricting have already spread beyond Texas. California governor Gavin Newsom has said he would call a special election for a redistricting in November to negate the five-seat gain coming out of Texas. After meeting with Texas legislators who came to New York on Monday, Governor Kathy Hochul said she would also consider a reprisal redistricting. “I’m tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back,” she said. That day in Albany, a small plane flew over the state capitol trailing a banner that read “Mess With Texas.”
Ultimately, Texas Democrats’ options are fairly limited. At some point, they must go home — a return that could be hastened by the fact that their legislative salaries are only $600 per month and they are being fined $500 per day for their trip. But the choices for Abbott also aren’t perfect. He hasordered the arrest of the fugitive Democrats, but Texas rangers have jurisdiction only within the state. Breaking quorum is not against the law, so he cannot go to the courts to force them to come back. So far, his next escalatory tactic would be to ask state courts to remove the Democrats from office, for which the caucus had an answer dating back to the state’s revolution: “Come and take it.”
Democrats still hope to pull a win from the situation, with Representative Jon Rosenthal noting that their six-week quorum break in 2021 led to a repeal of the most aggressive measures in a bill to restrict voting access. This time, the goal is to last until mid-August to run out the clock. “If we’re here more than two weeks, we seek to expire the session.”