Texas state senators take first step toward redistricting

State senators in Texas launched a public hearing Sunday on a bill to redraw congressional voting districts in the state, a move that could win Republicans five more seats in the House if the GOP plan works perfectly.

The public hearing is a required step before a bill can advance for a vote on the state Senate floor, Nexstar’s KXAN reported.

Democrats fled the state earlier this summer to prevent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republicans from having the legislative quorum necessary to pass legislation.

But Democrats are expected to attend the new special session after garnering attention with their walkout, and triggering more redistricting efforts around the country.

“We did exactly what we said we needed to do, and that is bringing a spotlight on this issue,” State Rep. Josey Garcia (D) said in an interview with KXAN one day before Abbott called the second special session.

Most notably, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is spearheading an effort to change district lines in his state to make up for any potential losses for Democrats in Texas. Democrats released their proposed map on Friday evening.

Newsom is vying to hold a special election this fall on a ballot measure that would suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission until the end of the decade in an effort to keep up with Republican gerrymandering. 

Newsom has stressed that bypassing the commission, which Californians approved back in 2008 and 2010, would be temporary, and that redrawing the lines would only be triggered by redistricting in red states.

“They do five seats, we do five seats,” Newsom said.

KXAN reported that Texas House leaders expect the House will have enough members present Monday to conduct legislative business.

GOP state Sen. Phil King told KXAN that the new maps would be legal and will perform better for Republicans in the state.

“We heard a lot of testimony that the current map had a number of districts that were not compact, were not close together, were not tight, in their design, and in this map, listening to that testimony, we applied it, and this map also is much more compact than the current congressional redistricting map.”

The proposed changes target five districts in areas around Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, creating Republican-leaning seats. 

The Texas push was directed by President Trump, who has also been pushing other states where Republicans are in control of government to look at redistricting to gain Republicans seats. The states considering such options include Missouri and Indiana.

Trump was impeached twice in his first term after Democrats regained control of the House.

Because the GOP has a very narrow majority in the House and the president’s party typically loses seats in the midterm elections, the possibility of Democrats regaining the House majority is a real possibility in 2026.