Texas Democrats to Confer With California and Illinois Governors on Redistricting
More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers boarded flights early Friday and planned to talk to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois about the potential effects on their states of the redistricting of U.S. House seats in Texas, as well as what steps they might take to respond.
'We want the country to understand what's going on in Texas is a national battle,' said State Representative Richard Peña Raymond, a Democrat from Laredo who was part of the group heading to Chicago to meet with Mr. Pritzker. Mr. Raymond said he would stress to the Illinois governor that the redistricting is 'clearly aimed at affecting the entire country.'
President Trump has been pushing Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional maps — a process that usually takes place only after the decennial census — to help preserve the party's majority in the U.S. House. He has suggested an additional five seats could be created for Republicans in Texas out of the state's 38 congressional districts. The party already holds 25 seats.
The daylong trip was the most concrete step yet taken by Texas Democrats, who have been debating how to respond to the redistricting plan in a state where Republicans control the Legislature and all statewide offices. Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the Legislature to redraw the maps after private and public pressure from the White House.
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