{"id":156096,"date":"2025-08-18T16:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T16:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/156096\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T16:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T16:06:10","slug":"texas-democrats-announce-end-to-walkout-over-gerrymandered-us-house-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/156096\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Democrats announce end to walkout over gerrymandered US House maps"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas Democrats said Monday that they were ending a two-week walkout that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts as part of a national partisan brawl<\/a> over President Donald Trump\u2019s desire to reshape U.S. House maps to his advantage.<\/p>\n

Their return will allow the Republican-run Legislature to proceed as California Democrats advance a counter-effort<\/a> to redraw their congressional boundaries in retaliation \u2014 a tit-for-tat that puts the nation\u2019s two most populous states at the center of an expanding fight over control of Congress<\/a> ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Dozens of Texas House Democrats left the state more than two weeks ago to deny their Republican-majority colleagues the attendance necessary to vote on redrawn maps intended to send five more Texas Republicans to Washington. They declared victory after Republicans adjourned that first special session, and Democrats around rallied in opposition to the Trump-led gerrymandering effort.<\/p>\n

They pointed specifically to California\u2019s release of proposed maps<\/a> intended to increase Democrats\u2019 U.S. House advantage by five seats, effectively neutralizing any Republican gains in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation \u2014 reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,\u201d said Texas House of Representatives Minority Leader Gene Wu in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"CORRECTS<\/p>\n

CORRECTS LAST NAME Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, right, and House Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, meet at the speaker\u2019s diocese after a second special session began Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo\/Rodolfo Gonzalez)<\/p>\n

CORRECTS LAST NAME Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, right, and House Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, meet at the speaker\u2019s diocese after a second special session began Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo\/Rodolfo Gonzalez)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Trump has pressured other Republican-run states to consider redistricting, while Democratic governors in multiple statehouses have indicated they would follow California\u2019s lead in response. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that his state will hold a Nov. 4 special referendum<\/a> on the redrawn districts.<\/p>\n

The president wants to shore up Republicans\u2019 narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms during his first presidency, when Democrats regained House control and used their majority to stymie his agenda and twice impeach him. On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing district lines puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. Of the 435 total House seats, only several dozen districts are competitive. So even slight changes in a few states could affect which party wins control.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A protester holds up a sign criticizing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during the Fight The Trump Takeover Rally held at the State Capitol, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Austin, Texas, to protest congressional redistricting efforts by Texas Republicans and President Donald Trump. (AP Photo\/Rodolfo Gonzalez)<\/p>\n

A protester holds up a sign criticizing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during the Fight The Trump Takeover Rally held at the State Capitol, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Austin, Texas, to protest congressional redistricting efforts by Texas Republicans and President Donald Trump. (AP Photo\/Rodolfo Gonzalez)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott jumped to the president\u2019s aid, adding redistricting to the agenda of an initial special session agenda that included a number of issues, but most notably a package of bills responding to devastating floods<\/a> that killed more than 130 people last month.<\/p>\n

Abbott has blamed Democrats\u2019 absence for delaying action on those measures. Democrats have answered that Abbott\u2019s capitulation to Trump is responsible for the delay because he insisted on effectively linking the hyper-partisan matter to the nonpartisan flood relief.<\/p>\n

Redistricting typically occurs once at the beginning of each decade to coincide with the census. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among those that empower independent commissions with the task.<\/p>\n

The Texas House is scheduled to convene Monday at noon CDT.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Barrow reported from Atlanta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas Democrats said Monday that they were ending a two-week walkout that stalled Republican…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":156097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[276,69,90,1854,56564,57,5026,50,80,2068,22204,358,5028,89,61,322,67,326,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-156096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-elections","12":"tag-gavin-newsom","13":"tag-gene-wu","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-greg-abbott","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","19":"tag-redistricting","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-tx-state-wire","22":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","23":"tag-u-s-news","24":"tag-u-s-republican-party","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115050629968315004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156096","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=156096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}