August 20, 2025
Texas Republicans ram through gerrymandered map as Democrats surrender quorum fight
Minority representation destroyed as Democrats abandon democracy fight
🤝Civic Action🗳️Elections📊Electoral Systems
Democratic state legislators ended their two-week exile on August 19, 2025, allowing Texas Republicans to pass congressional redistricting that creates five new safe GOP seats. The capitulation came after Governor Greg Abbott threatened arrests and $500 daily fines, while Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to remove 13 Democrats from office.
Trump demanded the mid-decade redistricting to protect Republican control of Congress ahead of 2026 midterms.
Texas Republican lawmakers completed mid-decade redistricting on August 29, 2025, when Governor 
Greg Abbott signed maps creating five new safe GOP seats through surgical gerrymandering of major cities
Democratic legislators fled Texas on August 3, 2025, breaking quorum for two weeks but ultimately returned after facing $500 daily fines, arrest warrants, and threats of removal from office
Attorney General Ken Paxton sued 13 Democratic lawmakers August 8, 2025, seeking their removal from the legislature while threatening bribery charges against those who stayed away
Trump personally demanded the redistricting push to gain five congressional seats, calling it a "very simple redrawing" essential for preserving GOP control of the House in 2026
Computer algorithms split Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio across multiple rural Republican districts, diluting Democratic voting power through "packing" and "cracking" techniques
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced retaliatory redistricting adding five Democratic seats if Texas maps become law, escalating the first interstate gerrymandering war since Reconstruction
The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gives Texas congressional maps an "F" grade for extreme partisan bias, ranking among the worst gerrymandered states in America
🤝Civic Action🗳️Elections📊Electoral Systems
People, bills, and sources
Greg Abbott
Governor of Texas
Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General
Chris Turner
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair
Dustin Burrows
Texas House Speaker
Donald Trump
President of the United States
What You Can Do
1
Call your representative at 202-224-3121 to support H.R.1 For the People Act requiring independent redistricting commissions in all states
2
Join Fair Districts Texas at fairdistrictstx.org to advocate for nonpartisan redistricting in future cycles and end gerrymandering
3
Donate to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee at democraticredistricting.com to fight gerrymandering nationwide through legal challenges
4
Support Common Cause at commoncause.org which challenges partisan maps in federal court using Voting Rights Act protections
5
Contact the Texas Civil Rights Project at texascivilrightsproject.org to support legal challenges to discriminatory new maps
6
Volunteer for voter education campaigns at vote411.org to help voters understand their new district boundaries and registration deadlines