In the race to pass a new congressional map, the Texas GOP-controlled legislature has approved arrest warrants for Democratic lawmakers who have fled to the state
to prevent Republicans from having a quorum (required number of lawmakers to be present for any bill to be considered) and voting on the bill. The proposal in question changes the congressional borders in Texas in the middle of the decade and hands the GOP advantage in five more seats in the 38-member delegation. This move by Republicans came at the behest of President Trump, who called for Texas to redraw its map to give him "five seats" in next year's midterms. GOP Governor Abbott obliged and called a special session in which a new map was proposed. It increases Republicans' advantage and has the potential to reduce the number of Democratic seats in the Lone Star state from 13 to just 8. This process by which district borders are drawn to favor one party or the other is called gerrymandering. Texas legislative Democrats, vastly outnumbered by the Republicans, have fled to Illinois to stop the Texas House from voting on the bill. Illinois Governor Pritzker even welcomed these legislators. Angered by their move, Abbott and legislative Republicans have now passed arrest warrants for these Democrats to be brought back to Texas so the bill can move forward. It was not immediately clear whether those warrants can or will be enforced beyond Texas borders. Also read: California's Gifford Fire Explodes To 65,000 Acres; Las Vegas Air Quality Impacted By Smoke
Nationwide Implications
Gerrymandering has been employed by both parties in the past to bolster their representation in Washington, DC. However, the openness with which it is being done in Texas has angered many Democrats across America. Many Democratic Governors, including California's Newsom and New York's Hochul, have suggested that they, too, will support a new map in their states to counter Texas GOP moves and even the playing field.
Newsom even flirted with the idea of an all-Democratic 52-member delegation from his state. Currently, California sends 43 Democrats and 9 Republicans to the US House. Meanwhile, Hochul addressed the Texas Democrats' move, saying, "I'm tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back. With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process. And to think we're gonna do this with a purity test."
