By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press
Texas’s Austin (AP) The Republican-controlled Texas legislature is anticipated to approve a new congressional plan on Wednesday, giving the GOP five more seats that could be won, and setting off the first domino effect in a broader national redistricting contest.
The vote comes after weeks of delays after scores of Democratic state lawmakers from Texas left the state in protest, and urging from President Donald Trump, who is keen to avoid a midterm loss that would deny his party control of the House of Representatives. After returning on Monday, a few Democrats were given 24-hour police escorts to guarantee their presence at Wednesday’s meeting. Those who objected to being watched were restricted to the House floor, where they demonstrated on Tuesday night during a broadcast.
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Angry national Democrats have promised to repay the Texas map, and later this week, the California legislature is set to pass new maps that include more seats that are favorable to Democrats. Voters in that state would still need to ratify the map in November.
States often update their maps with updated census data every ten years. However, as his party gets ready for a challenging midterm election next year, Trump is urging other conservative-controlled states, such as Indiana and Missouri, to likewise attempt to wriggle new GOP-friendly seats out of their maps.
The day before the vote, Democrats in Texas continued to highlight the extreme measures the Republican-controlled legislature was taking to make sure it happened. It began when Democratic state representative Nicole Collier refused to sign what Democrats referred to as the permission slip—a half-page document that permits troopers from the Department of Public Safety to follow them—that was required to exit the House chamber. She set up a video on the House floor on Monday night and Tuesday while her Democratic colleagues outside were being followed to their homes and offices by plainclothes officers.
Dallas region According to Representative Linda Garcia, she was followed by an officer for three hours as she traveled home from Austin. She claimed that he accompanied her down every aisle while she pretended to shop for groceries. Two unmarked cars with officers inside were parked outside her house while she talked on the phone with The Associated Press.
“It’s a strange sensation,” she stated. I feel like I’m in a movie, which is the best way to describe the entire process.
Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows ordered the trooper assignments, which were just one more step in a nationwide redistricting dispute.Democrats around the country have united in attempts to retaliate against Trump’s efforts to pressure GOP state officials to slant the 2026 midterm map further in his favor in order to maintain the GOP’s narrow House control.
Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth, hosted state representative Vince Perez of El Paso and House Minority Leader Gene Wu of Houston for the night.
More Democrats came back to the Capitol on Tuesday to tear up the slips they had signed and remain on the House floor, which features member restrooms and a lounge.
Dallas region Democrats were holding strategy sessions on the floor, according to Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, who referred to their protest as a “slumber party for democracy.”
Rep. Penny Morales Shaw of Houston stated that we are not criminals.
Collier claimed that having police follow her was an attempt to control her behavior and an assault on her dignity.
Collier’s objection was dismissed by Burrows, who claimed he was more concerned with pressing matters like addressing last month’s catastrophic floods and lowering property taxes. Redistricting was not mentioned in his Tuesday morning message, and his staff did not immediately address other Democrats joining Collier.
According to Burrows, Rep. Collier is perfectly within her rights under House Rules to remain and not sign the permission form.
According to those regulations, the chamber’s doors are shut until the scheduled vote on Wednesday, and no member may leave without the speaker’s written consent.
On Wednesday, all 150 members of the House must be present in order to conduct business.
The goal of the GOP plan is to elect five more Republicans from Texas to the U.S. House. Following California Democrats’ attempt to redesign their state’s districts in an attempt to unseat Republicans in five seats, Texas Democrats returned to Austin.
Democrats added that they were coming back because they want to file a legal challenge to the updated maps.
After the Democrats departed the state on August 3, Republicans obtained civil arrest warrants to bring them back, and Republican Governor Greg Abbott petitioned the state Supreme Court to remove Wu and a number of other Democrats from office. A $500 charge is also imposed on the lawmakers for each day of absence.
Various degrees of monitoring were described by Democrats. Rep. Armando Walle of Houston said he felt like he was being watched closely since he didn’t know where his police escort was, but the Capitol still had a high police presence.
According to other Democrats, the officers observing them were cordial. However, Austin Representative Sheryl Cole claimed on social media that the cop who was after her lost her on the trail, became enraged, and threatened to arrest her on Tuesday when she went for her daily walk.
Garcia claimed that she drove home with her 9-year-old son in tow and that she could always see the officer in the rearview mirror. He entered a supermarket where she and her son were shopping.
She stated, “I would imagine that this is how it feels when you’re on the verge of stealing and someone is determining whether you’re going to steal.”
Riccardi came from Denver to report. Contributions to this report came from Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas.
