debate the flood response package.<\/a> Wu put the onus back on Abbott and his party. <\/p>\n\u201cHe can stop blocking flood relief immediately. Stop playing political games,\u201d the Democratic leader wrote.<\/p>\n
The partisan battle has spread<\/p>\n
Redistricting is usually done just once per decade, not long after the decennial federal census conducted under the Constitution. <\/p>\n
The last census was in 2020. The mid-decade scheme is part of Trump\u2019s push to shore up Republicans\u2019 narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of his first presidency, when the 2018 midterms restored Democrats to a House majority that blocked his agenda and twice impeached him. <\/p>\n
Nationally, current maps put Democrats within three seats of retaking the House \u2014 with only several dozen competitive districts across 435 total seats. <\/p>\n
The Texas redistricting legislation would reshape the state\u2019s congressional districts in a design aimed at sending five more Republicans to Washington. <\/p>\n
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has pledged to redraw his state\u2019s U.S. House districts to counter any Republican gains in Texas. That would require convincing voters in the Democratic-run state to bypass an independent redistricting commission, making California Democrats\u2019 path potentially more complicated than those where legislatures determine the boundaries.<\/p>\n
Democratic Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Kathy Hochul of New York, where some Texas Democrats are temporarily staying, also have vowed to respond with redistricting attempts. <\/p>\n
Paxton\u2019s move on O\u2019Rourke is part of a GOP pressure campaign<\/p>\n
In Austin, Republicans are intensifying their pressure on absent Democrats, which already included issuing civil warrants for their arrest under legislative rules. Because they are out of state, those lawmakers are beyond the reach of Texas authorities.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Rourke has been raising money to support the Texas House Democratic Caucus, and Paxton has gone to court to try to stop him. At issue are Texas laws and regulations that govern whether and how political donations may be used to support lawmakers who are deliberately breaking a legislative quorum. <\/p>\n
Paxton accused O\u2019Rourke of thinking he is \u201cabove the law\u201d as he filed his motion Tuesday arguing that O\u2019Rourke is defying a court order.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, O\u2019Rourke said Paxton\u2019s latest filing misrepresents facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe alerted the Court that the AG\u2019s office blatantly lied in its filing. We\u2019re seeking maximum sanctions in response to his abuse of office,\u201d the post said. \u201cTaking the fight directly to this corrupt, lying thug.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott also has put pressure on Democrats, tasking state police with attempting to corral absent representatives and asking the courts to vacate some of their offices. He has argued in court filings that the absent lawmakers have abandoned their posts. The Texas Supreme Court in one case has set a schedule for written argument that extends beyond the current session. <\/p>\n
Under Texas legislative rules, Democratic lawmakers face $500 daily fines for each legislative day they miss in a deliberate move to prevent a quorum. Further, Burrows said Tuesday that he will stick Democrats with the bill for law enforcement efforts to bring them back to Austin. He said the tab for overtime alone already exceeds six figures. <\/p>\n
Newsom is needling Trump<\/p>\n
Newsom, for his part, says he will not pursue new district lines in California if Texas and other GOP states stand down. But he remains at the forefront of national Democrats\u2019 response.<\/p>\n
Minutes before the Texas House attempted to convene Tuesday, Newsom\u2019s press office social media account posted an all-caps message mimicking the president\u2019s social media style.<\/p>\n
\u201cDONALD TRUMP, THE LOWEST POLLING PRESIDENT IN RECENT HISTORY, THIS IS YOUR SECOND-TO-LAST WARNING!!! (THE NEXT ONE IS THE LAST ONE!). STAND DOWN NOW OR CALIFORNIA WILL COUNTER-STRIKE (LEGALLY!) TO DESTROY YOUR ILLEGAL CROOKED MAPS IN RED STATES,\u201d the message read.<\/p>\n
The post concluded the same way that Trump ends policy pronouncements unveiled on his Truth Social platform: \u201cTHANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Barrow reported from Atlanta. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ratcheted up President Donald Trump\u2019s congressional redistricting fight by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":141106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[23231,276,356,69,83920,1854,56564,57,5026,1819,1818,5371,18880,2739,405,50,80,2938,22204,358,5028,89,61,322,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-141105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-beto-orourke","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-dustin-burrows","14":"tag-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-gene-wu","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-greg-abbott","18":"tag-il-state-wire","19":"tag-illinois","20":"tag-kathy-hochul","21":"tag-ken-paxton","22":"tag-massachusetts","23":"tag-new-york","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-prisons","27":"tag-redistricting","28":"tag-texas","29":"tag-tx-state-wire","30":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","31":"tag-u-s-news","32":"tag-u-s-republican-party","33":"tag-united-states","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115018833977882443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}