House minority leader Gene Wu said he was waiting for California to unveil its own new map, though that one is less certain to pass
The more than 50 Texas House Democrats who fled the state to block a GOP redistricting plan are preparing to return home, paving the way for their Republican counterparts to pass a new House map.
The Democratic state lawmakers, who fled Texas via private jet to Illinois nearly two weeks ago, could return to their home state as early as Monday, according to the New York Times. By that point, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) is expected to call a special session that will see Republicans pass their redistricting plan.
“The end of the walkout will almost surely lead to the GOP now passing a new map,” Politico reported.
House minority leader Gene Wu told the Times that he and his fellow Democrats have been “waiting” to head home “until Democratic leaders in California introduced their own congressional map.” Newsom on Thursday unveiled a ballot measure that would give his state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature the power to bypass the independent commission that draws California’s congressional boundaries and reshape them to favor his party.
Passing that map, however, is less certain in California than it is in Texas. Nearly two-thirds of California voters—including 61 percent of Democrats—favor keeping the independent commission in place, according to a Thursday poll.
In addition to California, Democratic-led states such as New York and Illinois have also threatened to redraw their own congressional boundaries. But unlike Texas—where the Legislature can revise district lines with no constraints—the Democratic-led states have constitutional limits on when and how redistricting can occur. California’s laws, for example, require a ballot measure to change the redistricting method, while in New York, “the earliest the lines could be redrawn would be 2028,” the Times reported.
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