Texas Democratic legislators have fled the state to block the GOP’s efforts to gerrymander their way to victory; Democratic groups are calling for mid-cycle redraws of congressional districts in blue states to cancel out ongoing Republican attempts at a power grab; and Democratic governors are exploring all of their legal redistricting options in order to fight fire with fire.
In sum, Democrats have found the issue to bring the fight to the anti-democratic GOP: preventing Republicans from drawing their way into a loss-proof electorate.
“I’ve got news for Texas Republicans: This is no longer the Wild West,” New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday. “New York will not let democracy get hijacked in a modern-day stagecoach heist.”
This kind of resistance is exactly the kind of action Democratic voters have been yearning for since Donald Trump reentered the White House while swinging a corrupt wrecking ball.
Related |New York governor ramps up fight with Texas ‘renegades’
Indeed, polling shows that Democrats’ image has faltered—in large part because Democratic voters are frustrated with their own party. An AP/NORC poll released Sunday found that only 2 in 10 Democratic voters view the party favorably, with many describing the party as “weak” and “ineffective.”
But on this issue of Republicans rigging elections to get their preferred outcome, Democratic lawmakers have found their spine.
“I will put saving democracy as my top priority at any cost, because it is under siege, just like those who put on a uniform to fight in battles across the ages,” Hochul said at a Monday news conference, adding that redrawing the state’s congressional districts is on the table. “For centuries we’ve stood up and fought. Blood has been shed. This is our moment in 2025 to stand up for all that we hold dear and not let it be destroyed by a bunch of renegades in a place called Texas.”
Hochul was joined at that news conference by some of the more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to deny the Republican-controlled legislature a quorum. Without a quorum, Republicans cannot pass the abhorrent gerrymander that would nix as many as five Democrats from the House, which could help Trump and the GOP keep their House majority in 2026.
GOP Gov. Greg Abbott threatened those lawmakers with expulsion and even bribery charges—an attempt to scare Democrats back to the Lone Star State to allow him to undemocratically steal power for Dear Leader Trump.
But what should give the Texas Democrats more resolve is that Abbott’s threat to expel them from their seats and replace them himself is not something he can unilaterally do—and especially not before the special session he called expires in two weeks. And even if he could oust the Democratic lawmakers, he could not appoint their replacements himself. He’d have to call special elections, which Democrats would almost certainly win.
“I’m a lawyer. There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says,” Texas Democratic Rep. Jolanda Jones said at a news conference with Hochul in New York. “Respectfully, he’s making up some shit, okay? He has no legal mechanism. He’s putting up smoke and mirrors.”
It’s something even corrupt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton admitted.
“The challenge is that [it] wouldn’t necessarily be an immediate answer, right?” Paxton told right-wing podcaster and Russian asset Benny Johnson, according to Politico. “We’d have to go through the court process, and we’d have to file … in districts that are not friendly to Republicans. So it’s a challenge because every, every district would be different. We’d have to go sue in every legislator’s home district to try to execute on that idea.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee called on Democratic governors and Democratic-controlled state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts in order to prevent Republicans from stealing power.
“The DLCC isn’t going to sit back and allow Republicans to cheat the system to keep themselves in power,” committee President Heather Williams said in a statement on Monday. “All options must be on the table—including Democratic state legislatures using their power to fight back and pursue redistricting mid-cycle in order to protect our democracy.”
And Democratic governors are heeding that call.
Aside from Hochul, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is assessing his options to redraw his state’s congressional lines, saying at a Monday news conference that “everything has to be on the table.”
Pritzker also vowed to protect the Texas Democrats who have come to his state as they seek to deny Abbott the quorum he needs to pass the GOP’s egregious gerrymander.
Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also been working to find a way to redraw the Golden State’s congressional seats to combat Texas’ power grab. The main option being tossed around is calling for a referendum to nix the state’s independent redistricting commission, which would then allow Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional map.
“Republicans are rewriting the rules to give themselves an advantage,” Hochul said Monday. “The gloves are off. Bring it on.”