Overview

• Gov. Greg Abbott, at President Trump’s urging, opened a July 21 special session after the U.S. Department of Justice deemed four Texas majority-minority districts unconstitutional.
• Republican lawmakers in Austin have launched hearings to revise Texas’s mid-decade congressional map, and Democrats are threatening to leave the state to deny a quorum.
• On July 25, Texas House Democrats met with Govs. Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker to coordinate opposition to the GOP’s redistricting push.
• Newsom’s administration is mapping out legal pathways for a mid-cycle redistricting in California, including a statewide referendum or a two-thirds legislative vote.
• Analysts warn that partisan remaps could flip up to five seats in both California and Texas, with the potential to reshape control of the narrowly divided U.S. House.