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<\/p>\nIn 2003, Texas Rep. Richard Pe\u00f1a Raymond battled a Republican redistricting plan all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, he’s doing it again. But as fellow Democrats fled the state, he stayed.<\/p>\n
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Texas hearing draws sharp debate over redistricting plans<\/p>\n
Texas lawmakers and constituents voiced sharply divided opinions at a state Senate hearing over proposed redistricting plans that favor Republicans.<\/p>\n
AUSTIN \u2013 State Rep. Richard Pe\u00f1a Raymond, a South Texas Democrat, has spent the past week prowling near-empty halls in the Texas state Capitol, talking to any Republican lawmaker who would listen and trying to avert a U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> showdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the nearby House floor, Republican lawmakers maneuvered to try to launch a rare mid-decade redistricting effort. They\u2019ve drawn up a new map of U.S. House districts that\u00a0could give the GOP five more seats<\/a>\u00a0and help the party maintain control of the narrowly divided chamber.<\/p>\n Most of Raymond\u2019s Democratic colleagues left Texas in an attempt to bust the quorums needed for the legislature to pass the measure. But he stayed behind, trying to cajole, convince, pressure, or plead his way out of the crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Raymond, it\u2019s d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2003, when Texas Republican lawmakers again tried to redraw districts outside the norms of the once-a-decade process that follows each new Census,<\/strong> Raymond was on the redistricting committee and became an ardent voice of the opposition. When the measure passed, he was named as a plaintiff in a lawsuit that ultimately ended in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n This time, he said, the stakes are even higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c2003 was a big deal. We went through a lot,\u201d Raymond, 64, told USA TODAY from his first-floor office at the Capitol. \u201cI could see that that was history-making, and what’s going on right now will be history-making.\u201d<\/p>\n Midterm battle prompts Texas showdown<\/p>\n The current showdown began when President Donald Trump and White House officials urged Texas Republican leaders to redraw voting maps to add five new Republican-friendly seats to the U.S. House of Representatives. State Democrats traveled to Illinois \u2013<\/strong> some even to New York and Massachusetts \u2013 <\/strong>to prevent Republicans from reaching the two-thirds quorum in the 150-member legislature needed to conduct business.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Texas Republicans succeed in adding five GOP seats to the U.S. House, the Trump-friendly chamber could allow the president to continue one of\u00a0the most aggressive and disruptive agendas<\/a>\u00a0in modern presidential history. A Democratic majority in January 2027 opens the door to Congressional investigations, legislative paralysis \u2212 even a third impeachment.<\/p>\n Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest the absent lawmakers and the Justice Department of Justice has said it will also try to track down the AWOL representatives. And on Aug. 8, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the state Supreme Court to oust 13 Democratic lawmakers from office over their absence from the Capitol, arguing they abandoned their seats when they fled the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n The GOP’s Texas power play has set off a redistricting arms race as\u00a0blue state leaders move to create more Democratic-leaning House seats<\/a>\u00a0to counter Texas, and lawmakers in other red states,\u00a0including Indiana<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Missouri<\/a>, consider joining the fray. Vice President JD Vance<\/a> met with Indiana lawmakers on Aug. 7, reportedly to urge them to redraw maps and Florida Republican leaders have said they, too, will form a committee to begin redrawing districts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2003, Texas Republicans also tried to redraw maps three years after Census data was released, prompting state Democrats to retreat to a Holiday Inn in Oklahoma, just over the state line from Texas and out of reach of troopers who could force them to return.\u00a0<\/p>\n