🔴LIVE: DNC chair joins Texas gerrymandering fight

(Courtesy: Associated Press)

Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state's House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up Republicans' 2026 midterm prospects as his political standing falters.

After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using "smoke and mirrors" to assert legal authority he does not have.

The Republican-dominated House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities.

"If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences," House Speaker Rep. Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later telling reporters that includes fines.

Democrats' revolt and Abbott's threats intensified a fight over congressional maps that began in Texas but now includes Democratic governors who have pitched redrawing their district maps in retaliation - even if their options are limited . The dispute also reflects Trump's aggressive view of presidential power and his grip on the Republican Party nationally, while testing the longstanding balance of powers between the federal government and individual states.

California Democrats are considering new political maps that could slash five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts.

The impasse centers on Trump's effort to get five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas, at Democrats' expense, before the midterms . That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its U.S. House majority, something Republicans were unable to do in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first presidency. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 seats. That's nearly a 2-to-1 advantage and already a wider partisan gap than the 2024 presidential results: Trump won 56.1% of Texas ballots, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%.

Speaking Monday on the Fox News show "America's Newsroom," Abbott essentially admitted to the partisan power play, noting the U.S. Supreme Court has determined "there is nothing illegal" about shaping districts to a majority party's advantage. He even acknowledged it as "gerrymandering" before correcting himself to say Texas is "drawing lines."

More than 1,800 miles (2,900 km) away from Austin, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats and argued their cause is national.

"We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law breaking cowboys," Hochul said Monday, flanked by several of the lawmakers who left Texas. "If Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us with no choice: We must do the same. You have to fight fire with fire."