First domino in national redistricting fight likely to fall with Texas
GOP poised for vote on maps
[August 20, 2025]
By JIM VERTUNO and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The first domino in a growing national
redistricting battle is likely to fall Wednesday as the
Republican-controlled Texas legislature is expected to pass a new
congressional map creating five new winnable seats for the GOP.
The vote follows prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off
a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of
Representatives, and weeks of delays after dozens of Texas Democratic
state lawmakers fled the state in protest. Some Democrats returned
Monday, only to be assigned round-the-clock police escorts to ensure
their attendance at Wednesday's session. Those who refused to be
monitored were confined to the House floor, where they protested on a
livestream Tuesday night.
Furious national Democrats have vowed payback for the Texas map, with
California's legislature poised to approve new maps adding more
Democratic-friendly seats later this week. The map would still need to
be approved by that state's voters in November.
Normally, states redraw maps once a decade with new census figures. But
Trump is lobbying other conservative-controlled states like Indiana and
Missouri to also try to squeeze new GOP-friendly seats out of their maps
as his party prepares for a difficult midterm election next year.
In Texas, Democrats spent the day before the vote continuing to draw
attention to the extraordinary lengths the Republicans who run the
legislature were going to ensure it takes place. Democratic state Rep.
Nicole Collier started it when she refused to sign what Democrats called
the “permission slip” needed to leave the House chamber, a half-page
form allowing Department of Public Safety troopers to follow them. She
spent Monday night and Tuesday on the House floor, where she set up a
livestream while her Democratic colleagues outside had plainclothes
officers following them to their offices and homes.
Dallas-area Rep. Linda Garcia said she drove three hours home from
Austin with an officer following her. When she went grocery shopping, he
went down every aisle with her, pretending to shop, she said. As she
spoke to The Associated Press by phone, two unmarked cars with officers
inside were parked outside her home.
“It’s a weird feeling,” she said. “The only way to explain the entire
process is: It’s like I’m in a movie.”
The trooper assignments, ordered by Republican House Speaker Dustin
Burrows, was another escalation of a redistricting battle that has
widened across the country. Trump is pushing GOP state officials to tilt
the map for the 2026 midterms more in his favor to preserve the GOP’s
slim House majority, and Democrats nationally have rallied around
efforts to retaliate.
Other Democrats join the protest
House Minority Leader Gene Wu, from Houston, and state Rep. Vince Perez,
of El Paso, stayed overnight with Collier, who represents a
minority-majority district in Fort Worth.
On Tuesday, more Democrats returned to the Capitol to tear up the slips
they had signed and stay on the House floor, which has a lounge and
restrooms for members.
Dallas-area Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez called their protest a
“slumber party for democracy,” and she said Democrats were holding
strategy sessions on the floor.
“We are not criminals,” Houston Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said.
[to top of second column]
|
Texas state troopers post outside of the House Chamber where
Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier refuses to leave due to a
required law enforcement escort, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in Austin,
Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Collier said having officers shadow her was an attack on her dignity
and an attempt to control her movements.
Republican leader says Collier ‘is well within her rights’
Burrows brushed off Collier's protest, saying he was focused on
important issues, such as providing property tax relief and
responding to last month’s deadly floods. His statement Tuesday
morning did not mention redistricting, and his office did not
immediately respond to other Democrats joining Collier.
“Rep. Collier’s choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is
well within her rights under the House Rules,” Burrows said.
Under those rules, until Wednesday’s scheduled vote, the chamber’s
doors are locked, and no member can leave “without the written
permission of the speaker.”
To do business Wednesday, 100 of 150 House members must be present.
The GOP wants 5 more seats in Texas
The GOP plan is designed to send five additional Republicans from
Texas to the U.S. House. Texas Democrats returned to Austin after
Democrats in California launched an effort to redraw their state’s
districts to take five seats from Republicans.
Democrats also said they were returning because they expect to
challenge the new maps in court.
Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back
after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott
asked the state Supreme Court to oust Wu and several other Democrats
from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day
they were absent.
How officers shadowed Democratic lawmakers
Democrats reported different levels of monitoring. Houston Rep.
Armando Walle said he wasn’t sure where his police escort was, but
there was still a heightened police presence in the Capitol, so he
felt he was being monitored closely.
Some Democrats said the officers watching them were friendly. But
Austin Rep. Sheryl Cole said in a social media post that when she
went on her morning walk Tuesday, the officer following her lost her
on the trail, got angry and threatened to arrest her.
Garcia said her 9-year-old son was with her as she drove home, and
each time she looked in the rearview mirror, she could see the
officer close behind. He came inside a grocery store where she
shopped with her son.
“I would imagine that this is the way it feels when you’re
potentially shoplifting and someone is assessing whether you’re
going to steal," she said.
___
Riccardi reported from Denver. John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and
Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
