Texas lawmakers have convened for a 30-day Special Session to work through an aggressive agenda established by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, including response to devastating flooding in Hill Country and, more controversially, to redraw congressional districts in response to a request from President Donald Trump.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is already on high alert for a Session they expect to result in “a partisan gerrymandering scheme.”
“Families in Kerr County lost everything, and this moment needs to be all-hands-on-deck for them. But instead of coming together to focus on flood victims, Texas Republicans are hellbent on rigging congressional maps to save the Republican majority in the midterms for Donald Trump,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement, referring to efforts by people in Trump’s orbit to get Abbott to call the Special Session for redistricting purposes.
The New York Times reported in June that Trump’s political team was encouraging Republican leaders in Texas, including Abbott, to evaluate how to redraw congressional boundaries to help Republicans in the state retain and gain seats in the U.S. House in a Midterm Election that is expected to favor Democrats.
Midterm Elections typically serve as a referendum on the party in power in Washington, which right now is the GOP, with slight majorities in the House and Senate and Trump in the White House.
Trump’s controversial policies — including tariffs expected to drive up prices for Americans and a budget bill that will eventually lead to sweeping cuts to food assistance benefits and Medicaid eligibility — are expected to exacerbate an already difficult cycle for the party.
“Trump and the Republicans just slashed Americans’ food assistance and health care to pay for the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the ultra-wealthy in this nation’s history,” Martin added, referring to Trump’s budget bill dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Now, Martin said, Republicans are “outright destroying any chance at fair democratic representation in Texas just to shield themselves from the political consequences of their actions.”
“What Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans are doing is craven, cowardly, and a naked power grab,” Martin said. “Texas Democrats are fighting back against this overreach. When I was in Houston over the weekend, I told our local and state leaders that the DNC stands right there with them to defend Texans’ voting rights and hold Republicans accountable.”
Republicans hope to redraw some congressional district boundaries to create five new winnable seats for the party, an effort that would help the GOP maintain control of the House in the 2026 elections, according to The Associated Press. Republicans already control 25 of Texas’ 38 seats in the U.S. House, with Democrats controlling just 12 — another is vacant after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, died in March.
One district paints a particularly clear picture of what Republicans are hoping to accomplish. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is a Democrat representing Texas’ 34th Congressional District in parts of the Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.-Mexico border. He won his last election in the district last year by just 5,000 votes, meaning a slight shift in boundaries to draw in more Republican voters could make a huge difference.
But in his district, and others like it, Democrats see a silver lining. By drawing more Republicans into already close Democratic-held districts, it could make adjacent Republican-leaning districts more competitive by removing Republican voters.
“Get ready for some pickup opportunities,” Gonzalez said, according to the AP, adding that his party is already recruiting challengers to Republicans whose districts they expect to be destabilized by the process. “We’re talking to some veterans, we’re talking to some former law enforcement.”
Beto O’Rourke, a former U.S. Representative who has had a number of near-miss elections in red Texas, including failed attempts at Governor in 2022 and U.S. Senate in 2018, has already cautioned Republicans that their plan may backfire.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper Sunday, O’Rourke said the effort could “end up biting Republicans in the ass,” noting that redrawn districts would disperse Republican voters, according to POLITICO.
In addition to the redistricting agenda, lawmakers are also seeking to pass legislation that would protect against another flood like the July 4 one that devastated Central Texas’ Hill Country and claimed the lives of at least 134 individuals, many children.
Legislators may also address an impasse from the state’s Regular Session earlier this year over consumable hemp-derived products, such as beverages that offer a high similar to that of traditional cannabis. Such beverages and other edibles are widely available in Texas under a loophole in current law lawmakers hope to close, though they can’t agree on how.
Abbott has also called for work on several socially conservative policy priorities, including requiring individuals to use the bathroom that aligns with their sex assigned at birth and on an abortion pill crackdown.
In all, Abbott included 18 items in his Special Election call.
Democrats are in the minority in both chambers of the Texas Legislature, making their efforts to block legislation they see as harmful a tall order.
The Democratic caucus could go to the extreme and just not show up for the Special Session, leaving Republicans without the required number of members present to conduct business. That happened in 2021 after Democrats left Session to try to block a state election overhaul proposal by breaking quorum. They made a similar play in 2003, according to the Texas Tribune.
It’s unclear, however, whether the party will exercise what is largely considered a nuclear option. But Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu has said the option is not off the table.
