Texas Democrats flee state to block redistricting vote

[Morphine Prince 109,656]

Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state Sunday in a bid to block passage of a new congressional map designed to give the GOP five additional seats in the U.S. House next year, raising the stakes in what's poised to be a national fight over redistricting ahead of next year’s midterm election.

The maneuver, undertaken by most of the Texas House’s 62 Democrats, deprives the Republican-controlled chamber of a quorum — the number of lawmakers needed to function under House rules — ahead of a scheduled Monday vote on the draft map. The 150-member House can only conduct business if at least 100 members are present, meaning the absence of 51 or more Democrats can bring the Legislature’s ongoing special session to a halt.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” state Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement, in which he accused Gov. Greg Abbott of “using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal.”

Most House Democrats left Texas Sunday afternoon en route to Chicago, with some also headed to New York to meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has condemned Texas’ mid-decade redistricting effort and entertained the idea of retaliating with new maps in her state. A third contingent of lawmakers also departed for Boston to attend the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual legislative summit.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/texas-democrats-quorum-break-redistricting-map/

 

[Bronco 25,122]

Hochul, Newsom etc all need to respond in kind. 

Fight ****ing dirty. 

[ThisGuyTony 34,879]

At least they’re finally doing something to block these MAGA idiots 

[Lord Mayhem 3,428]

Well...they moved...

[Emvee 8,829]

Isn’t the redistricting making it more likely that more districts turn purple and making them more vulnerable to a democratic pickup? 
 

Or do I have something wrong? Texas is already ****ed. Why not let them spread themselves too thin? 
 

and on the plus side, California and other blue states are justified in playing the dirty game. 

Edited August 3, 2025 by Emvee

[Mikah 156]

2 hours ago, Emvee said:

Isn’t the redistricting making it more likely that more districts turn purple and making them more vulnerable to a democratic pickup? 
 

Or do I have something wrong? Texas is already ****ed. Why not let them spread themselves too thin? 
 

and on the plus side, California and other blue states are justified in playing the dirty game. 

They could put all their democratic voters in one district and make the other districts 60% republican 40% democratic. It’d be nearly impossible for any democrat to win. 

[Scar97 1,695]

We really just need the blue states to start a gerrymander war tit for tat.  Make it such a big gross issue that we finally abolish the practice nationwide. The issue is a lot of the blue states made it harder for the legislatures to do this

[SevenWonder 4,744]

19 minutes ago, Scar97 said:

We really just need the blue states to start a gerrymander war tit for tat.  Make it such a big gross issue that we finally abolish the practice nationwide. The issue is a lot of the blue states made it harder for the legislatures to do this

Newsom is planning to do just that. It sucks we even have to play this ridiculous game, but the right is just evil. Pure and simple.

[Morphine Prince 109,656]

BREAKING NEWS from TX Governor Greg Abbott:

“This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”

[Ladle Ghoulash 52,864]

5 hours ago, Lord Mayhem said:

Well...they moved...

This is a good thing, sis lmao 

[Morphine Prince 109,656]

Democrats broke quorum and blocked the vote. 

The Texas House has now approved the ARREST of absent Democrats.