The Democratic governors of California and Illinois, who have indicated that they could redraw their own political maps to match changes in Texas, met with the Democrats in the Texas House on Friday as they attempt to defeat an aggressive Republican redistricting campaign.
Early Friday, more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers took planes to discuss the possible impact of Texas’ redistricting of U.S. House seats on their states and possible responses with Governors Gavin Newsom of California and JB Pritzker of Illinois.
State Representative Richard Pea Raymond, a Democrat from Laredo who was among the delegation traveling to Chicago to meet with Mr. Pritzker, stated, “We want the country to understand what’s going on in Texas is a national battle.” Mr. Raymond stated that he would emphasize to the governor of Illinois that the redistricting is obviously intended to have an impact on the entire nation.
In an effort to maintain the party’s majority in the US House, President Trump has been pressuring Texas Republicans to redo their congressional districts, a procedure that typically only occurs following the decennial census. Out of Texas’s 38 congressional districts, he has proposed allocating an extra five seats to Republicans. There are already 25 seats held by the party.
For Texas Democrats, who have been discussing how to react to the redistricting plan in a state where Republicans control the Legislature and all statewide positions, the daylong trip was the most tangible action to date. Following public and private pressure from the White House, Governor Greg Abbott requested a special session of the Legislature to redraw the maps.
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