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yesterday

Texas Republicans Unveil Plan to Gain Five House Seats, Prompting Blue-State Countermeasures

A special session redistricting push in Texas has triggered threatened walkouts, Voting Rights Act lawsuits, rival early redraw measures in New York and California

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Representative Julie Johnson, a Texas Democrat, speaks during a press conference in Leesburg, Virginia on March 13, 2025. Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, speaks duringa press conference in Washington, D.C. on Juyl 30, 2021.
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Overview

  • State Rep. Todd Hunter filed a 30R-8D map in the July 21–August 19 special session that would boost Texas’s GOP-held U.S. House delegation from 25 to 30 seats for the 2026 elections.
  • The draft boundaries merge and reshape Democratic districts in Austin, Houston, Dallas and South Texas, endangering incumbents Greg Casar, Lloyd Doggett, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Al Green.
  • Texas Democrats have warned they will break quorum by walking out and will file Voting Rights Act lawsuits to block the map before the session adjourns.
  • On July 29, New York lawmakers approved the first of two measures for a conditional constitutional amendment that would allow mid-decade redraws if triggered by another state, with voter approval needed for enactment in 2028.
  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders are exploring similar early-redraw initiatives, even as independent commissions in their states traditionally control mapmaking.