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Democratic leaders across the nation blasted Texas House Republicans for passing new congressional maps that could give the GOP five additional seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
On Wednesday (August 20), the proposed map was passed 88-52 along party lines, per The Hill. Texas Democrats fled the state earlier this month to block the vote, but returned home on Monday (August 18) following threats of arrest and FBI involvement. Democratic lawmakers also faced 24-hour police surveillance upon their return to ensure their attendance during redistricting votes.
“Tonight, Texas Republicans delivered Donald Trump the rigged map he demanded,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said after the measure passed. “Trump, Greg Abbott and their allies know they can’t win on their record of stripping health care, tanking the economy, and making families pay more with less.”
“This is a last gasp of a desperate party clinging to power,” she added.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) echoed Hochul's sentiments, saying the GOP redistricting effort is an attempt by the party to regain strength ahead of the midterm elections.
“You only try changing the rules if you think you’re losing — and that’s exactly what Texas Republicans are attempting to do,” Newsom said. “We want to give Californians the power this November to counter redistricting power grabs and stand for independently drawn maps in every state."
In retaliation against Texas' GOP-favored redistricting, California Democrats released a proposed new map last week that would offset the five seats that Republicans are poised to gain. Newsom called for a special session in November to vote on the new map if Texas moved forward with its proposal.
Newsom again offered the Texas GOP an "off-ramp" if they blocked their new map from becoming law. Texas senators are expected to consider the measure on Thursday (August 21) for final approval before it heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
“If they don’t move. If Republicans stand back — they have an off ramp — this initiative, our efforts, don’t go forward. We’re doing this only in response to what he’s doing,” he said. “So if he doesn’t want us to move forward, he has some capacity to influence that," Newsom said Wednesday.
“We should let voters choose their representatives," he added.
Hochul has also vowed to fight Texas gerrymandering by restructuring district lines in her state.
“In New York, we’ll confront Trump’s legal insurrection head on,” Hochul said Wednesday. “We’ll meet him on the same field and beat him at his own game.”
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) applauded his counterparts for fighting back against Trump's apparent power grab.
“Democrats need to strike back,” Ossoff said on MSNBC’s “The Weeknight.”
“We have no time or luxury for high-minded hesitation, because Trump and MAGA are going to do everything within their power to hold on and to lock in one-party rule in America,” he continued. “That’s the reality that we face.”
During a fundraiser on Martha's Vineyard, former President Barack Obama called Newsom's retaliatory maps "responsible."
“I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said, per the Associated Press. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”
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