Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a bill signing in the State Capitol April 23, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Abbott pushed for the creation of a new map to adhere to President Donald Trump’s desire to not see a repeat of the 2018 election cycle, where Democrats handily regained the majority in the House and acted as a foil to the president’s legislative desires toward the end of his first term.
While Republicans control a supermajority in deep-red Texas and already passed the map through the state Senate, Democrats still needed to create a quorum in the House in order to actually move the process along.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (Reuters)
Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican who wrote the bill for the new map, countered that four of the five new districts were "majority-minority Hispanic," and noted that each of the new districts now trended Republican. Still, he made no qualms as to why Republicans were pursuing changes to the congressional maps.
"The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward, [to] improve Republican political performance," he said.
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But the Democrats’ blockade ended on Monday, when Abbott called for a second special session, after their demands for California to also begin a redistricting cycle were met in an effort to nullify the map Texas Republicans were creating.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Democrats unveiled their new map last week, which, if passed, would create five new Democratic-leaning congressional districts that would counteract the Texas legislature’s new map.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/abbott-scores-big-win-redistricting-battle-texas-democrats-blockade-collapses