Texas GOP Pushes Ahead with Redistricting Amid Democratic Protests and Civil Disagreement over Quorum Break

Texas Republicans are edging closer to endorsing new congressional maps amidst Democratic protests over House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ order that members who absconded from the state weeks earlier be subjected to constant surveillance by law enforcement to allow them to leave the House floor.

The House is set to reconvene on Wednesday, with Republicans pushing ahead with their Trump-backed redistricting plan, which aims to create five additional Republican-leaning districts before the midterm elections next year. The vote in the House could occur as early as Wednesday, with a potential Senate vote taking place on Thursday. However, it remains uncertain when exactly the House will vote, and prolonged debate on the floor could delay proceedings.

With the Democrats relegated to the minority, they lack the power to prevent the passage of the maps, but have continued to voice their disapproval of GOP tactics aimed at preventing them from leaving the state again. Burrows has mandated that the quorum-breaking Democrats be placed under 24/7 supervision by the Department of Public Safety in order to leave the House floor.

However, state Rep. Nicole Collier has refused this requirement and remains confined to the House chamber. Other Democrats on Tuesday evening tore up the written agreements that allowed them to leave the chamber and vowed to spend the night on the House floor.

Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House Democratic leader, criticized the GOP’s tactics, telling CNN’s Pamela Brown on “The Lead” that “Good guys don’t do that.”

In California, Democrats have advanced their own redistricting countermeasure. Two committees have approved a set of bills that ask voters to amend the state constitution and approve new maps that create five additional Democratic-leaning seats. Now that Democrats have returned to the state, the House is likely to have the two-thirds quorum required for conducting business when Burrows gavels the chamber into session on Wednesday.

The only item on the day’s agenda is House Bill 4 — the bill that would redraw the state’s congressional map to add five more Republican-leaning seats. The bill cleared a committee on a party-line vote Monday. However, it remains unclear how long debate will last before votes are cast, with the process potentially extending into Austin’s evening hours.

The Senate, where the redistricting plan’s passage is all but assured, is scheduled to return on Thursday night. Gov. Greg Abbott stated on Monday that the new congressional maps “will become law probably by the end of this week.”

Burrows imposed a unique requirement on the Democrats who ended their 15-day boycott and returned to the Capitol on Monday: They would be released from the House floor into the custody of a Department of Public Safety officer who would ensure their return on Wednesday. The move came after the civil arrest warrants Burrows issued shortly after Democrats fled the state proved unenforceable outside of Texas.

Most Democrats complied with the law enforcement escort, showing reporters what they called “permission slips” they received to leave the House floor and pointing to the officers escorting them around the Capitol. However, some Democrats protested. Collier refused to leave the House floor, spending Monday night there and planning to do so again on Tuesday. Wu and Rep. Vince Perez, who signed the “permission slips” to leave with a police escort, stayed with Collier through Monday night.

State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw stated after returning to the Houston area under police escort that she realized it was a mistake to enter into the agreement, arguing she is now “correcting course.”

The state’s Senate and Assembly elections committees both advanced Democrats’ redistricting countermeasure on Tuesday, despite opposition from Republicans on the panels. Democrats have framed their push to redraw the maps as a check on Texas Republicans. Under the proposals, voters would have the opportunity to approve or reject a constitutional amendment allowing Democrats to override the state’s independent redistricting commission and redraw congressional lines through the 2030 elections. The proposed lines could net Democrats an additional five favorable seats as well as shore up the districts of some vulnerable incumbents.

California Republicans have filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court requesting an emergency injunction to stop the redistricting effort on the grounds that the legislature didn’t give voters enough notice, and have also proposed a citizens’ initiative that would retroactively ban lawmakers who approve the constitutional amendment from running in one of the new districts.