Texas House Democrats who left the state in protest of proposed congressional redistricting said Thursday they will return to the state after the Legislature adjourns Friday and California’s state lawmakers introduce a retaliatory redistricting map in their state assembly.
In a statement, members of the minority party said their lawyers had advised them to return “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” against the proposed reconfiguration of Texas’ congressional districts. The new map, stalled since dozens of Democrats left the state Aug. 3, is designed to net the GOP five additional seats in the U.S. House. President Donald Trump pressured state leaders to undertake the effort mid-decade — a rarity — as the GOP tries to hold onto its thin majority in Congress.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who has asked the state’s Supreme Court to remove House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu from office, said earlier this week he would continue calling special legislative sessions — starting Friday after both chambers of the Legislature adjourn. House Speaker Dustin Burrows said he would gavel out for the session if the lower chamber continued to lack a quorum, or the minimum number of present members required to conduct business.
The House, which needs 100 of its 150 members present to establish a quorum, has not reached that threshold since most of the chamber’s 62 Democrats left the state for Chicago, Massachusetts and New York in an effort to stop the proposed redistricting. Democratic lawmakers say the new map is an attack on the representation of minority voters in the districts being redrawn, while Republicans have defended their right to redraw district lines for partisan gain whenever they want….
All posts by Rick Hasen
“Justice Department presses Texas for list of registered voters, and the officials who check it”
Annals of Authoritarianism: Trump’s Military Agents Appear Outside California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Press Conference on Redistricting Reform
As Gov. Gavin Newsom prepared to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans on behalf of California, scores of federal immigration agents massed outside the venue Thursday.
Newsom was set to speak at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, when Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino, who has been leading the immigration operations in California, arrived in Little Tokyo, flanked by agents in helmets, camouflage, masks and holding guns.
“We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place since we won’t have politicians that’ll do that, we do that ourselves,” Bovino told a Fox 11 reporter in Little Tokyo. “We’re glad to be here, we’re not going anywhere.”
When the reporter noted that Newsom was nearby, Bovino responded, “I don’t know where he’s at.”
Newsom’s office took to X to share that agents were outside, posting: “BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!”
The apparent raid Thursday, during which one person was detained, comes amid calls from elected officials for an end to renewed immigration operations across the L.A. area. Federal agents have carried out a string of raids over the past week, arresting several people at car washes and Home Depot stores….
In a press conference outside of the museum following the operation, Mayor Karen Bass said, “there’s no way this was a coincidence.”
“This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face. Why would you do that? That is unbelievably disrespectful, it’s a provocative act,” Bass said.
“They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles,” the mayor said, “and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now.”
“The Dangers of America’s Gerrymandering Problem—And How to Fix It”
Benjamin Schneer and Maxwell Palmer in TIME:
Instead, we believe it is possible to make reforms that keep the current electoral system while also overcoming some of its flaws. We’ve developed a process-based solution that has a number of appealing properties. It’s inspired by the problem parents face when dividing a cake between two children. How can they make sure everyone gets an equal slice? One child cuts the cake in two, and the other child chooses between the two pieces.
Our approach, which we call the “Define-Combine Procedure,” splits the map drawing process into two simple stages. First, one party divides the state into twice the number of needed districts—for example, 20 sub-districts for a state that needs 10 congressional seats. Then, the second party pairs those sub-districts into the final 10 districts. The result is a fairer map than either party would have drawn on its own. Instead of mutually assured gerrymandering, this approach leads to mutually assured representation.
NVRA Case Against Virginia Voter Purge Purportedly to Remove Non-Citizens Survives Motion to Dismiss
See this press release from the Lawyers’ Committee about this ruling from a federal district court partially denying the state’s motion to dismiss.
“The Racial Gap in Trust in Elections (and How to Close It)”
Laura Uribe, Kailen Aldridge, Thad Kousser, Kyshan Nichols-Smith, and Tye Rush have written this article in Political Science Quarterly (also a version here without a subscription). Here is the abstract:
While the contemporary conversation about trust in U.S. elections focuses on mistrust among white conservatives, we ask whether racial and ethnic minority groups also lack confidence in the integrity of the vote count. Is there an enduring gap along ethnoracial lines over trust in elections and, if so, what determines the magnitude of this gap? Grounding our theory in the literature on race and trust in institutions and elections, we outline hypotheses about the mechanisms of mistrust for minority groups. We use an original national survey as well as data from the Survey of the Performance of American Elections from 2012 through 2022. We find that Black and Native Americans have lower levels of trust in elections when compared to white Americans. Asian Americans are not statistically unlike whites in their level of trust, and the trust gap that exists for Latines is partially explainable by demographic characteristics such as education and income. We further demonstrate the profound importance of state voting laws: in states that impose high barriers to accessing the ballot, the gap between white and Black Americans’ trust in elections doubles in size, while in states with the most inclusive voting laws, the racial gap in trust disappears.
Fifth Circuit Affirms Lower Court Ruling that Louisiana STATE Legislative Maps Violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
Per curiam opinion here (with one judge concurring in the judgment). At the end of the opinion, the court rejects a constitutional challenge to Section 2.
The Louisiana v. Callais case currently before the Supreme Court concerns Louisiana’s congressional maps.
“Poll: California voters back independent congressional maps, complicating Gavin Newsom’s redistricting push”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a major hurdle in his quest to revamp his state’s congressional lines, according to a new poll: Californians’ deep support for its current independent redistricting commission.
By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters prefer keeping an independent line-drawing panel to determine the state’s House seats, the latest POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey found. Just 36 percent of respondents back returning congressional redistricting authority to state lawmakers.
“It’s not surprising, in the sense that California has voted twice for this independent review commission not all that long ago,” said Jack Citrin, a veteran political science professor at UC Berkeley and partner on the poll. “And there’s a lot of mistrust and cynicism about politicians and the Legislature. That’s reflected here as well.”
California Democrats are plowing ahead with a high-stakes gambit to redraw the state’s lines to counter a proposed gerrymander by Texas Republicans spurred by President Donald Trump. California officials are expected to unveil newly redrawn maps at the end of this week that would position Democrats to nab five extra seats, neutralizing the Texas redraw….
“A strange GOP divide is forming over Trump’s gerrymandering plans”
President Donald Trump’s aggressive redistricting push is sparking public concern from an unusual mix of Republicans.
Resistance to mid-decade redraws is running the ideological gamut and cutting across levels of government. While many are backing Trump’s gambit to protect the GOP’s House majority in the midterms, a growing number of Republican lawmakers are airing concerns — a list that spans lawmakers from swing districts in blue states to safe territory in ruby-red Florida.
Trump and his team have convinced once-wary Texas Republicans to draw a new House map and lobbied the GOP governors of Missouri and Indiana to at least “seriously” consider following suit, but the Republican governor of New Hampshire has ruled out pursuing any changes because “the timing is off.” And GOP state lawmakers across the country — who hold the power to redraw lines in several of the states at the forefront of what’s becoming a nationwide redistricting arms race — are finding themselves similarly split.
These strange divisions underscore the complex political dynamics of the president’s latest power play. It’s become a loyalty test that could boost Republicans’ chances of keeping their trifecta in Washington, but one that also carries significant electoral risk for several of their own members in Congress and potential for broader voter backlash.
Trump’s team is barreling forward, bullish about having more opportunities to redraw maps across the states than Democrats and brushing off concerns as primarily coming from members whose seats are at risk. Administration officials and allies are working to fire up his base by noting that Democrats have already gerrymandered several states in their favor and have limited moves left to play. And MAGA online influencers like Steven Bannon and Charlie Kirk are encouraging their fans to jam Greg Abbott’s phone lines so the Texas governor ratchets up pressure on quorum-breaking Democrats to return and let Republicans pass a new congressional map. But even that is showing some limits.
“Redistricting is not really an ideological exercise as much as a self-interest exercise,” California-based GOP strategist Rob Stutzman said. “The safer you are and enjoy being in the majority, the more your self interest is ‘lets see Texas get scrambled and if we sacrifice some colleagues from blue states, in California and New York, so be it.’”
But for those more vulnerable Republicans, “this poses a substantial risk to your career,” Stutzman said. And that’s why some are reflecting at least a “growing private sentiment of ‘is this really worth it?’”…
“Trump Isn’t the Only One to Blame for the Gerrymander Mess”
David Daley NYT oped:
President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Texas Republicans have reignited the gerrymandering wars. The brazen power grab in Texas pushed Democrats to start their own efforts to unravel independent commissions established by voters, and now it’s threatening to tilt the whole country into chaos.
Mr. Trump and his G.O.P. allies are surely the instigators, but the true architect of this mess, the person who bears as much or more responsibility for it, is Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative Supreme Court. Over several years of rulings, this court has effectively rolled back laws that had for generations protected the right to vote.
The current frenzy is just the latest example of the most antidemocratic feature of American politics in 2025. It’s the toxic combination of the conservative Supreme Court majority and a political party that believes longstanding norms are for suckers and that lacks any commitment to fair play and majority rule.
Since he joined Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department in 1981 as a young foot soldier in the nascent conservative legal movement, Chief Justice Roberts has pursued the patient, steady bleeding of the Voting Rights Act. In 2013, he wrote the 5-to-4 decision in Shelby County v. Holder that effectively ended preclearance, the Voting Rights Act’s most effective enforcement mechanism, and liberated states, many clustered in the South, from federal oversight of legislative maps…
“Hispanic Democratic Officials in Texas Plead Not Guilty to Voter Fraud”
Nine Latino Democratic officials and political operatives pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in South Texas to charges of criminal voter fraud, accusations that their defenders called blatant voter suppression and political intimidation by the state’s Republican attorney general.
Gerry Goldstein, a lawyer for the most prominent defendant, told the presiding judge that he had filed a motion Wednesday morning to dismiss the charges and challenge the constitutionality of the state law used to prosecute his client, Juan Manuel Medina, a former chairman of the Democratic Party of Bexar County, the fourth largest in the state.
Gabriel Rosales, the director of the Texas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, called the charges “a complete attack on democracy.”
“This is voter suppression 101,” Mr. Rosales said.
The nine defendants, including Mr. Medina, were indicted last month by a South Texas district attorney working with the state’s famously conservative attorney general, Ken Paxton. Six of the defendants appeared in person in a courtroom in Pearsall, Texas, while three others, including Mr. Medina, appeared via Zoom. A state judge is expected to consider the motion to dismiss the case in early October.
It was the second time in less than four months that Mr. Paxton has charged prominent Latino Democratic officials with criminal “ballot harvesting,” the usually routine act of collecting absentee ballots and bringing them to drop boxes or polling sites to be counted. A half-dozen people, including a county judge, two City Council members and a former county election administrator, were charged with voter fraud in May.
…
“The Downballot’s live guide to redistricting in every state”
At Donald Trump’s instigation, Republican lawmakers across the country are moving forward with plans to redraw their congressional maps outside of the normal once-a-decade redistricting process—purely for partisan political gain.
In response, Democrats nationwide are preparing to counter these gerrymanders with new maps of their own. And in some cases, the courts, rather than legislators, could soon step in to impose changes.
In this continually updated guide, The Downballot is keeping track of the latest redistricting developments in each state—28 in all. Next to each state’s name, you’ll find a breakdown of how many members of each party it elected to the House in 2024.
States not on this list include those whose congressional delegations are effectively maxed out for one side or the other (such as Massachusetts and Oklahoma); those where political considerations make any mid-decade remap very unlikely (such as Arizona and Michigan); or those that have just a single district (like Alaska and Delaware).
You can also check out our special report explaining how every blue state (and several purple ones) can respond to these new Republican efforts to further gerrymander the maps in red states….
“How a U.S. Senate Race Is Shaping the Fight Over Redistricting in Texas”
NYT:
The standoff in Texas over redrawing the state’s U.S. House districts to a sharply tilted Republican advantage has played out before the backdrop of a contentious U.S. Senate race that may well be making the redistricting fight more contentious.
On the Republican side, the incumbent senator, John Cornyn, has set aside his often conciliatory demeanor, as he vies with his Senate primary opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, to see who can look tougher with runaway Democratic lawmakers.
On the Democratic side, State Representative James Talarico and former Representatives Beto O’Rourke and Colin Allred have used the standoff to gain publicity and rally the Democratic base around the notion that democracy itself is at stake. All three are potential rivals in the Senate race.
As the candidates position themselves, they’ve woven threats of prosecution and lawsuits with taunts and dares at the other party — and, in the case of Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Paxton, at each other — with few incentives for compromise….
“The midterm map fight favors the GOP — and could help them stay in power”
WaPo:
President Donald Trump’s push to redraw the congressional map has fueled a redistricting arms race, with blue and red states rushing to counter each other.
But it’s an uneven fight.
Republicans appear to hold the advantage in the nationwide scramble, according to strategists and nonpartisan analysts, with more opportunities to shift the lines in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats have vowed to “fight fire with fire” since the GOP moved to add five red seats in Texas, but they face many barriers.
Republicans are eyeing ways to add a dozen or more red House districts across Texas, Florida, Missouri, Ohio and Indiana, despite some legal hurdles and reservations from local Republicans. Democrats are looking to retaliate with five more blue seats in California, and they are exploring other options, including in Maryland and Illinois. They control fewer states than Republicans, however, and they have already maximized their power in others. In some cases, they would have to work around independent commissions set up to prevent gerrymandering.
“The Republicans are pretty likely to come out ahead — it’s just a question of how much they come out ahead,” said Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst for the nonpartisan site Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
Democrats say they are determined to blunt Trump’s push for more red seats, even if they cannot stop it. As Republicans defend a 219-212 House majority with four vacancies, even small shifts in the map could tip control of Congress in 2026…