Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) announced plans on Tuesday to call a second special legislative session after Republicans were unable to secure a quorum in the Texas House, preventing them from passing a new GOP-drawn congressional map.
“With the Texas House and Senate today announcing they are prepared to sine die on Friday, I will call the Texas Legislature back immediately for Special Session #2,” Abbott said in a statement, referring to the scheduled adjournment of both chambers. “The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans.”
Abbott sharply criticized Democratic lawmakers who fled the state last week to deny Republicans the minimum number of members required to conduct official business — a tactic known as breaking quorum. “There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them,” he added. “I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”
The standoff stems from the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature’s effort to redraw congressional district boundaries ahead of the 2024 elections. The new map is designed to create five new GOP-leaning districts, potentially increasing the party’s representation in Congress. However, Texas Democrats strongly oppose the plan, arguing that the map unfairly dilutes minority voting power and diminishes Democratic representation.
In response, a group of Texas Democrats left the state nearly a week ago, traveling to Washington, D.C., to prevent the House from reaching quorum. Without enough members present, the legislature cannot hold a vote on the new district map.
Despite committees in both the Texas Senate and House passing identical versions of the proposed House map, neither chamber has been able to bring the measure to a full floor vote due to the Democrats’ absence.
Governor Abbott has vowed to keep calling special sessions until the Democrats return and the map is passed. However, it remains uncertain how long the Democrats plan to stay out of the state, potentially prolonging the legislative deadlock.
Meanwhile, the redistricting battle in Texas has attracted attention nationwide. California, a heavily Democratic state, is reportedly considering a new congressional map of its own that could counterbalance the GOP’s expected gains in Texas. Abbott has warned that if California moves forward with a Democratic-favoring map, Texas could respond by eliminating as many as 10 Democratic districts in its own redistricting process.
This escalating dispute highlights the growing national tension around redistricting, which occurs every ten years following the census and often shapes the political landscape for the coming decade.
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