Texas Democrats flee state in bid to stop GOP maps from advancing

Texas House Democrats on Sunday left the state in a bid to stop Republicans from advancing House maps that would give the GOP five more pickup opportunities ahead of 2026. 

The Texas Democrats said they were denying Republicans a quorum, or the minimum number of lawmakers needed present in order to conduct legislative business, following a similar tactic they employed the last time the GOP pursued midcycle redistricting in 2003. Most of them traveled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, all of which are Democratic-led states.

“We're not here to have fun. We're not here because this is easy, and we did not make a decision to come here today, we did not make a decision lightly,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu told reporters in Illinois, with members of his delegation and Gov. JB Pritzker (D) behind him.

“But we come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is the absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas,” he continued.

Texas Democrats are receiving additional national support in their bid to deny their GOP counterparts a quorum.

“The DNC is proud to support these legislators in standing up and showing real leadership. We will fight alongside them to stop this anti-democratic assault,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “And, after this fight is done, we’re coming full force for the Republicans’ House majority.”

Their move to break quorum underscores how the party is willing to use all of the tools at its disposal in order to stop Republicans from passing a friendlier GOP House map before the end of the 30-day special session.

The Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting advanced the proposed set of new House lines on Saturday, teeing up for a vote before the entire House this week. Because the Texas GOP holds majorities in both chambers and governor’s mansion, Democrats face few good options in order to stop them from passing.

Breaking quorum could be costly for the more than 50 state lawmakers who left the state: Each faces a daily penalty of $500 and the possibility of being arrested.

“The Texas House will be convening at 3:00pm tomorrow,” Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (D) said in a post on X. “If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table. . .”

Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his own post on X argued that Democrats should be arrested over breaking quorum.

“Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,” he wrote. “We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.

During the Sunday press conference, Pritzker made clear that he would protect Texas Democrats who fled to his state amid the threat of arrests.

“They're here in Illinois. We're going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that — ‘cause we know they're doing the right thing, we know that they're following the law,” Pritzker told reporters.

Texas Republicans are redrawing their House maps ahead of 2026 as President Trump is eyeing pick-up opportunities in the Lone Star State ahead of what’s expected to be a difficult election cycle for the GOP.

Mid-decade redistricting is unusual in that most states draw their House once every 10 years following the U.S. Census. Ohio was originally the only state expected to redraw its maps this year after the ones used in 2022 did not receive bipartisan support. Sometimes mid-cycle redistricting can happen as a result of litigation over a state’s maps.

The effort to redraw the maps — which will impact lawmakers in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houstin and Rio Grande Valley areas — has set off a chain reaction, with red and blue states alike considering redrawing their own maps in response.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is considering redrawing the state’s maps, with options of the use of a ballot measure or through the state legislature itself to achieve that goal. Other blue-state governors in New York, Illinois and New Jersey have similarly left the door open to redrawing their map.

Other GOP states like Florida could also see their maps changed ahead of 2026, too.

The redistricting tit-for-tat, however, is threatening to upend an already chaotic election cycle and sow more uncertainty — raising questions about which districts candidates and lawmakers will be running in and whether it could impact primary dates and candidate deadlines.

Updated: 11:06 p.m.