Democratic lawmakers in Texas have fled the state to try to stop a Republican-led push to redraw the state’s congressional map. The proposed changes—a partisan gerrymander—would give the GOP an even stronger hold on the state’s congressional seats. By leaving the state, Democrats are denying the Texas legislature the quorum required to pass the measure. But Republican leaders in the state are vowing to fight back and threatening penalties against the legislators.

What is the Republican redistricting proposal in Texas?

• Every ten years, after the census, states redraw their congressional maps to reflect population changes, with each state deciding its process for setting district boundaries. In most states, including Texas, the state legislature is in charge of drawing the maps, but other states use a commission instead. In New York, this commission includes elected officials and political appointees, while in California, an independent group of citizens from outside the government oversees the matter.
• In a rare move, the Texas legislature recently issued a redistricting proposal in the middle of the decade. Texas’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott reportedly directed lawmakers to draw new maps at the direction of President Donald Trump.
• Texas is allotted 38 representatives to the U.S. House. These seats are currently held by 25 Republicans and 12 Democrats. (Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, died in March. The seat will be filled by a special election this November.) But the new map would shift five districts from majority Democrat to majority Republican, meaning the new split could yield 30 Republican members to 8 Democrats. In the 2024 election, President Trump won those 30 districts by at least 10 points.

What is partisan gerrymandering?

• Critics of the Texas proposal have called it a partisan gerrymander, which is when district lines are drawn to give one political party an unfair advantage in elections. 
• Partisan gerrymandering can be done by dividing voters of a certain political party among many districts, thus diluting their power to elect their preferred candidate in any of the districts, or by packing these voters into as few districts as possible to minimize the number of candidates that could be elected by that group.
• Both Republicans and Democrats have been accused of gerrymandering, but in recent years, Republicans have benefited from it more significantly. 
• Opponents of gerrymandering argue it undermines democracy by letting politicians choose their voters instead of the other way around, while supporters defend it as a rightful tool of the majority party. 
• Partisan gerrymandering can also be used as a cover for racial gerrymandering, which the Supreme Court has determined violates the Voting Rights Act. Conversely, SCOTUS effectively greenlit partisan gerrymandering in 2019, when the justices ruled that its utility is a political question that federal courts cannot decide.

How are Democratic lawmakers pushing back against the GOP’s gerrymandering effort in Texas?

• Last weekend, over 50 Democratic legislators fled Texas for states like Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts. 
• By leaving the state, the legislators are preventing the Texas House from reaching the quorum necessary (two-thirds of the 150 members must be present) to vote on the measure.
• Texas House Democratic Caucus chair Gene Wu spoke about Democrats’ decision to flee the state to block redistricting: “We come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is…absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas…The tool they’re using is a racist, gerrymandered map, a map that seeks to use racial lines to divide hardworking communities who have spent decades building up their power and strengthening their voices. And Governor Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump.”

Could Democrats who flee the state face legal consequences, including criminal charges, civil penalties, or removal from office?

• Governor Abbott sent letters to the lawmakers who fled the state, threatening to remove them from office and fill their seats. Abbott cited a 2021 opinion written by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who determined that a court would need to decide “[w]hether a specific legislator abandoned his or her office such that a vacancy occurred.” If a court were to determine so, Abbott could then fill the vacancies under Article III, Section 13 of the Texas Constitution.
• The lawmakers are also facing steep fines. Under Texas House rules adopted in 2023, lawmakers who fail to attend a legislative session will be fined $500 per day. The rules also prohibit a lawmaker from using their campaign funds to pay these fees. Democratic donors are reportedly prepared to foot the bill. In his letter, Abbott also threatened that lawmakers could face bribery charges if they “‘solicit[], accept[], or agree[] to accept’…funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote.” 
• On Monday, the Texas House issued arrest warrants calling on the lawmakers who fled the state to return. These civil arrest warrants are only symbolic, since they carry no criminal or civil force and only apply in Texas.

What happens next?

• It is unclear how long the Democratic lawmakers will remain out of Texas. In 2021, they used a similar tactic to block a GOP voting bill but returned after 38 days. The bill ultimately became law.
• Blue states are also preparing to respond. Governors Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York support proposals to redraw maps in Democrats’ favor, aiming to counterbalance Republican efforts in states like Texas.
• Meanwhile, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) is introducing legislation in Congress to ban mid-decade redistricting.