Dade Phelan

📍 Office

Room GW.8, P.O. Box 12910, Austin, TX 78711

📞 512-463-0706

Open letters

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a May 2, 2026 special election for Texas Senate District 4 to fill a vacancy in the Republican-controlled chamber. The district, located in East Texas, had been held by a Republican, and the special election was expected to maintain the partisan balance of the Texas Senate. Abbott's authority to set special election dates unilaterally under Texas law illustrates how gubernatorial power shapes legislative composition outside the normal election cycle.

The Texas Legislature passes a new congressional map in June 2025 at the explicit request of President Donald Trump, who posts on Truth Social calling on Republican-controlled state legislatures to redraw congressional maps mid-decade to gain House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. The Texas map, designed to eliminate or make more competitive seats held by Democrats, marks the first major mid-decade congressional redistricting in modern history initiated by a sitting president. Gov. Greg Abbott signs the map into law. The move triggers Democratic-led states including California and Virginia to announce countermeasures, launching a nationwide mid-decade redistricting war.

President Trump urges Texas Republican leaders to redraw the state's congressional map mid-decade, between census years, to extend Republican dominance before the 2026 midterms. Texas Republicans begin the process, using the Rucho v. Common Cause ruling as cover that federal courts cannot block partisan gerrymandering. California Governor Gavin Newsom and several Democratic governors announce they will consider retaliatory mid-decade redistricting to offset Republican gains, triggering what analysts call the most aggressive mid-decade gerrymander cycle in modern history.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott adds mid-decade redistricting to a special session agenda at President Donald Trump's request. The result is a new Texas congressional map targeting five additional Republican seats, marking the opening move of the 2025-26 redistricting wave.