Overview

• This week, Texas lawmakers are set to vote on a 30-day special session map called by Governor Greg Abbott, but Democrats have stayed away to deny the two-thirds quorum needed for passage.
• The proposal, advanced at President Trump’s request, would redraw districts in Dallas, Houston, Austin and two border regions to flip five U.S. House seats from Democratic to Republican control.
• The U.S. Justice Department has ruled that several majority-Black and Hispanic districts in Houston and Dallas violate constitutional limits on race-based districting and ordered their correction.
• Texas Democrats have revived a quorum-breaking boycott tactic, risking $500 fines per day for absent legislators as they seek to delay the redistricting vote.
• If the Texas plan succeeds, Democratic leaders in California and Illinois are preparing potential counter-redistricting measures to convert Republican seats, although independent commissions and existing maps may constrain their actions.