Getty ImagesTexas legislators have approved new congressional maps designed to give Republicans an edge in next year’s elections for the US House of Representatives.
After a two-week standoff, where Democrats fled the state to stall the vote and rally supporters against the redistricting plans, Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives passed the new voting lines in an 88 – 52 vote.
The maps will now go to the Texas Senate, where they are expected to be swiftly approved.
The new maps create five new Republican-leaning seats, which could shore up the party’s US House majority in Washington DC. Democratic-led states are pushing to redraw their maps to offset the loss in Texas.
President Donald Trump backed redrawing the maps to safeguard a Republican majority in the US House. Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the chamber, which Democrats hope to eclipse in the 2026 midterm elections.
The vote followed a dramatic showdown as Democrats fled across state lines to draw national attention to the redistricting push.
At least two-thirds of the 150-member state legislative body in Texas must be present to take a vote. But such a quorum became unreachable in the statehouse as dozens of Democrats went absent.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered their arrest, and some of them said law enforcement had been monitoring their homes while they were gone.
The lawmakers returned this week, saying they believed their stalling helped draw attention to the redistricting and prompted other states to consider how to retaliate in kind.
In an effort to ensure Democrats would not attempt to halt the vote again, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows ordered the statehouse chamber doors to be locked on Monday.
He also said Democrats would be “released into the custody” of a designated police officer to ensure they returned to the statehouse on Wednesday for the redistricting vote.
Several Democrats instead ripped up the written agreements that they were required to sign for the police escort. One lawmaker, Nicole Collier, decided to sleep in the chamber rather than be escorted by an officer.
In the time since Texas started planning these new voting maps, other states controlled by both political parties – including Florida, New York, Ohio and Missouri – have been weighing similar changes.
California lawmakers are currently debating new maps that would give new advantages to Democrats in five districts, which would cancel out changes made in Texas.
A key provision in California says the maps would only go into effect if Texas or other states went ahead with changes favouring Republicans.
After the vote on Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X: “It’s on, Texas.”
The new maps in Texas sparked uproar over gerrymandering – the redrawing of electoral boundaries to favour a political party – which is legal unless it is ruled to be racially motivated.
Like other states, Texas typically redraws congressional districts once a decade when new population data is released by the US Census.
Texas Democrats claimed that redrawing the maps before the next population count in 2030 was being done along racial lines – an argument that has been rejected by Republicans.
Voting maps that were approved in 2021 after the last population count are currently being litigated over allegations of racial discrimination.
During one of the many heated exchanges during debate in the Texas statehouse, Republican legislator Todd Hunter, who introduced the redistricting bill, was applauded as he scolded Democrats who left the state.
“Don’t come into this body and say we didn’t include you,” he said of the decision on the new maps. “You left us for 18 days, and that’s wrong.”
Democrats in the chamber questioned the legality of the maps and called out Republicans who they accused of trying to “steal” an election.
“Let’s talk about cowardice and cheats,” Democratic legislator Ann Johnson said.
“The root of all of this is around racism and power,” she added. “A pure power grab.”
Democrats and civil rights groups have said the new maps will dilute voting power from minorities, which would violate federal law, and have threatened to sue.
