Texas Democrats arrive in Chicago

In an extraordinary move to counter Republican redistricting in Texas, dozens of Democrats in the state House of Representatives are heading here Sunday to deny a necessary quorum for the GOP to move forward with those efforts.

The roughly 30 Democrats are expected to stay for the week in a plan brokered with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who had met with the Texas caucus late last month and has directed staff to provide logistical support for their stay.

  NBC

It may be extraordinary, but it's been done before, and it caused a barrage of approbrium on the Democrats.

Last week, Texas Republicans released a proposed new congressional map that would give the GOP a path to pick up five seats in next year’s midterm elections. It followed President Donald Trump’s public pressure for a new map in the state as he works to retain a majority in Congress in what historically is a difficult year for the party holding the White House.

Districts are to be drawn every ten years with the census, but Trump can't wait until 2030.

The proposed map would shift district lines in ways that would target current Democratic members of Congress in and around Austin, Dallas and Houston, as well as two already endangered Democrats representing south Texas districts that Trump carried last year.

[...]

Politically, the move puts Pritzker at the center of a high-profile national fight. The governor, who is running for his third term in office, is also widely viewed as a 2028 presidential contender. He has implored Democrats to resist Trump’s agenda.

[...]

The Texas Democrats, however, face the risk of a $500-a-day fine and even possible arrest for fleeing the state. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the measure in 2023, two years after state Democrats left the state for three weeks to block an elections bill from progressing.

[...]

The Texas House is scheduled to convene at 3 p.m. CT Monday. The redistricting bill is so far the only item on the calendar.

 

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said he would like to gain five congressional seats through a midterm redistricting effort in the state.

The proposed changes mostly impact Democrat-held districts in the state's major metropolitan areas.

The justice department accused Texas of illegally gerrymandering four of the targeted Democratic districts along racial lines. In response, Governor Abbott made redistricting a special session priority, even though he and the republican majority approved the current map in 2021.

While Republicans control 25 of the state's 38 Congressional districts, lawmakers are trying to relocate Democratic voters from competitive seats into more Republican-leaning districts and move more Republicans into democratically controlled districts.

  Fox

As we always say: they can't win if they don't cheat. 

UPDATE 08/04/2025:

I don't know if Greg Abbott knows this, but whether they're in Illinois or in jail, they won't be in the House to vote.

They've done it before and weren't removed. Maybe this time he assumes the DOJ or ICE or SCOTUS will be on his side.

It's ALSO about gerrymandering.

There was a press conference.  Texas Dems speak, and then Pritzker at the 30 minute mark.

Aside:  That backdrop!  You think JB might be running for president?

UPDATE 08/07/2025: