National Democratic leaders are encouraging state Democrats in the Texas House to consider walking out of a special legislative session this month to block Republicans from redrawing the state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
At the same time, President Trump held his own call on Tuesday with congressional Republicans in the state, urging them to carve out five new G.O.P. seats from those held by Democrats, according to a person briefed on that call, which was first reported by Punchbowl News.
“Just spoke to our Great Congressmen and women of Texas,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media. He added, “I keep hearing about Texas ‘going Blue,’ but it is just another Democrat LIE.”
The redistricting of House seats is supposed to come at the beginning of each decade, after new census data shifts populations and changes the number of seats granted to each state. Reapportionment in the middle of the decade is rare and almost always contentious, since it is driven by political considerations, not demographic shifts. In this case, Mr. Trump is openly trying to use new maps to stave off midterm Democratic gains that would potentially cost his party control of the narrowly divided House.
“It is important that we fight back,” said U.S. Representative Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat whose Houston district could be affected. “What is happening is absolutely an unacceptable betrayal of Texans.”
During the Democratic call on Monday evening, which lasted for more than two hours, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, spoke with about 40 Democrats in the Texas House.
Mr. Jeffries called the coming special session an all-hands-on-deck moment that would require extraordinary actions to block Mr. Trump and Texas Republicans, according to a person familiar with his remarks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.
The Democratic call on Monday also included Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama and has led efforts to reverse gerrymandering in the House, according to a copy of the call agenda that was obtained by The New York Times.
The leaders did not directly call for a walkout, according to three people with knowledge of the call who spoke of condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation. But they left the impression that it should be considered.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas had called for the 30-day special session to begin later this month to include the redrawing of the state’s political maps, along with potential legislation to address the deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country, among other issues.
At a Tuesday news conference, Mr. Jeffries decried the Texas redistricting efforts, accusing Republicans of “conspiring to rig the Texas congressional map as part of an effort to disenfranchise millions of people in Texas.”
Mr. Trump had “ordered” the creation of five new seats, Mr. Jeffries said, predicting that Republicans would follow his lead. Democrats currently hold 12 of the state’s 38 seats in the U.S. House and had expected to gain another in the 18th Congressional District in November, when a vote will be held to fill the vacant seat in a strongly Democratic area of Houston.
Any walkout would be politically challenging for Democrats and would carry a steep financial cost.
At least 100 members must be present for the 150-member Texas House to take action on legislation, so Democrats would need 51 of their 62 members to sign onto the walkout. Each member who walks out would face a fine of $500 a day under rules adopted by the Republican-dominated Texas House after Democrats broke quorum with a walkout in 2021, during the last regular redistricting.
That would equal $15,000 per member if Democrats broke quorum for the entire 30-day special session, which begins on July 21. Under the rules, the fines must be paid out of a member’s personal funds and not from campaign money.
Democrats in the State Legislature have a long history of using quorum breaks in what have been ultimately unsuccessful attempts to stop congressional gerrymandering by Texas Republicans. Before the 2021 walkout, they fled the state in 2003 to try to thwart a mid-decade redistricting pushed by Representative Tom DeLay, a Texan who was then at the top of Republican leadership in Washington.
In both cases, the Republicans were ultimately able to end the quorum break and vote to approve the new maps.
If a new walkout were to take place, Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, vowed on Tuesday to assist law enforcement “in hunting down” and arresting any Democrats who take part.
“The people of Texas elected them to do a job, not run away and hide like cowards,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement.
Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Martin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Representative Fletcher, while endorsing action, said the decision about how exactly to fight back would have to made by Democratic members of the State Legislature.
Some members, who participated in the quorum break four years ago, were uncertain this time around.
“Those of us that just went through one are probably going to pretty tentative about that,” said Jon Rosenthal, a state representative who represents parts of Houston. “There are new rules in place that create, to me, untenable financial burdens on the members.”
Mr. Trump’s push to redistrict the state ahead of the 2026 midterms found support on Tuesday from Senator John Cornyn, who is engaged in a bruising primary against Mr. Paxton next year and has been seeking Mr. Trump’s endorsement.
“A mid decade redistricting will mean significant gains for Texas Republicans,” Mr. Cornyn wrote.
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
Shane Goldmacher is a Times national political correspondent.
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