Facing Loss of Nearly Half of Their House Seats, Texas Dem Lawmakers Literally Flee State to Stop GOP Redistricting

Conservative News DailyAugust 4, 2025

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Several Texas House Democrats fled the state to prevent a vote on a new congressional redistricting plan. Texas requires at least 100 of the 150 House members present for a quorum to conduct business, and by leaving, the Democrats aimed to block the Republican-backed map that could increase GOP seats from 25 to perhaps 30 out of 38 congressional seats. Some Democrats traveled to Illinois and New York, where governors J.B. Pritzker and Kathy Hochul welcomed them and criticized the Texas Republican plan as authoritarian. however,critics noted that Illinois and New york have heavily gerrymandered maps favoring Democrats. Texas Governor Greg Abbott condemned the Democrats’ actions, accusing them of neglecting their duties and threatening to remove them from office if they don’t return.The controversy highlights ongoing disputes over redistricting and partisan gerrymandering in the United States.

Dozens of Texas House Democrats fled the state rather than allow a congressional redistricting plan to be voted for on Monday.

Fox News reported that at least 100 of the 150 members of the Texas House must be present for a quorum so business can be conducted.

Some of the Texas Democratic lawmakers flew to Chicago, among other destinations, where Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker met them and commended their courage in standing up to President Donald Trump and those “cheater” Republicans.

That’s funny, because Illinois has one of the most gerrymandered maps in the U.S. Its congressional delegation includes only two Republicans of the 17 total.

So Texas Democrats have decided to flee their state to protest “partisan gerrymandering.”

Half of them are currently in Illinois, the most gerrymandered state in the country.

The other half are in New York, where Democrats redrew the congressional maps in their favor after… pic.twitter.com/9v1T1g6svj

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 4, 2025

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also welcomed some of the fleeing lawmakers and decried the Texas legislature’s new map, calling it a move toward “authoritarianism.”

“If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they leave us no choice. We must do the same,” she said.

Kathy Hochul now says that she wants to redraw New York’s congressional lines in response to Texas.

New York literally just did right before the 2024 election to eliminate three Republican seats that they lost in the 2022 midterms. pic.twitter.com/5WbebzML2c

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 4, 2025

Actually, they already did. Just last year, New York Democrats rammed through a new congressional map after Republicans picked up several seats in the 2022 midterm elections, according to the New York Post.

The Republican delegation in the last Congress was 11, but in the current one it dropped to seven.

This is one of the reasons that the GOP holds such a narrow majority overall, at 219 to 212, despite Trump performing so well at the top of the ticket and many other downballot races swinging in the Republicans’ favor.

NY Democrats ram through new congressional map that will give them an edge in elections — then changes law to limit challenges https://t.co/GgN3TDhADn pic.twitter.com/MnKGTcjtez

— New York Post (@nypost) March 1, 2024

Now, Democrats are up in arms because Texas dares to redraw its congressional map in a way that may result in the GOP netting up to five seats.

Republicans currently hold 25 of the Lone Star State’s 38 seats, and if the change goes through, it could be 30 of the 38, according to Fox.

The proposed Texas map is not some crazy gerrymandered creation like that seen in Illinois.

🚨 BREAKING: The Texas House Redistricting Committee JUST PASSED the new map that adds up to 5 Republican U.S. House seats for 2026.

It’s happening. pic.twitter.com/bI67kWN0tx

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 2, 2025

The new map would force Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett out of her district in the Dallas area, Fox said.

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott told the outlet Monday, “New York and Illinois are two hallmark states that have already done redistricting to eliminate Republicans.”

Texans don’t run from a fight—they face it head on.

These Texas Democrats that fled the state are not serving Texans. They are serving themselves.

They forfeited their seats and are facing potential felony charges. pic.twitter.com/Pe3d50WyVX

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 4, 2025

He noted that by Democrats fleeing his state, they are also preventing flood relief legislation from receiving a vote.

“I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state legislature because they are not doing the job they were elected to do,” the governor said.

He announced Sunday that he plans to take action to remove them from office if they do not return by Monday afternoon when the legislature returns to session.

Good.

📈 Texas’s population increased to 31.9 Million.

👨‍💼 This correlates to 42 seats in the House, yet Texas only has 38 House seats in their delegation. 25 are Republicans, 12 are Democrats.

This means that, mathematically, Texans are underrepresented compared to Californians in…

— Elizabeth Barcohana (@E_Barcohana) August 3, 2025

A consistent truism when it comes to Democrats is that the very things they most loudly decry (often with great sanctimony) are the very things they are most guilty of.

There is no need for Republicans to roll over and let the Democrats regain the House next year by rigging the game. Democrats have already shown a proclivity to abuse power through their two impeachments of Trump and the highly partisan Jan. 6 committee.

Texas is doing the right thing to counter what the Democrats have already done.