Texas Democrats are heading home, but the redistricting fight may be far from over

Yahoo

a day ago

Returning to the Lone Star State gives Republicans a chance to approve new congressional maps and sets the stage for a high-stakes court battle.
Texas Democrats who left the state to block Republicans from implementing a new redistricting plan are heading home, but that doesn't mean the fight over the state's congressional map is over.
Republicans are trying to implement new gerrymandered district lines that could give the GOP five additional seats in the House of Representatives if they're in place in time for next year's midterms. That effort has been on hold since Aug. 3 because dozens of Democrats fled the state in order to prevent the state House of Representatives from having enough members present to formally meet.
Democrats signaled on Thursday that they would be willing to return to Texas if two conditions were met: 1. California Democrats moved forward with their own redistricting plan to counterbalance the changes made in Texas. 2. The Texas House ended its special session.
Both those conditions have since been met. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the state's legislature will begin the process of setting up a special election to put redistricting on the ballot later this year. The Texas House officially closed its special session Friday morning.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott immediately called for a new special session scheduled to start just two hours later. Not enough Democrats were in attendance for that second session to meet on Friday, but Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows said that he expects to have a quorum present when the House reconvenes on Monday.
During their absence, the Democrats were each fined $500 a day for holding up the state legislature. Abbott also threatened to have them removed from office, and civil warrants were issued for their arrest.
It's unclear how much any of those penalties had to do with their decision to return home. In their statement on Thursday, the Democrats indicated that coming back to Texas was part of their new strategy to stop the maps from being implemented. They wrote that their legal counsel advised them to return to Texas 'to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle' over the GOP's map which, they argued, violates both the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.
'This fight continues on a new front,' Democratic Rep. Erin Elizabeth Gámez wrote in her own statement Friday morning. 'We will lay the groundwork in the State House so we can prevail in the courthouse.'
The Supreme Court has found gerrymandering for partisan purposes is constitutional, but it's unconstitutional if it's done with the intention to weaken the voting power of a specific racial group.
Though their return to Texas means that the state's new maps are likely to pass, Democrats still made the case that their holdout was a success because it brought attention to the issue and inspired blue states to take action.
'We changed the national conversation. CA will cancel out the Texas map.' Rep. Chris Turner wrote on social media Friday.
Solve the daily Crossword