AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Democrats prepared for a final show of resistance against a Republican effort to redraw the state’s congressional maps mid-decade, signaling plans to speak late into Friday night on the Senate floor in an attempt to delay final passage.
It’s the latest chapter in a weekslong showdown that has roiled the Texas Legislature, marked by a Democratic walkout and threats of arrest from Republicans. While much of the drama has unfolded in the House — where the map ultimately passed on Wednesday — Democrats are mounting one last breath of resistance as the maps move toward likely approval.
“Republicans think they can walk all over us. Today I’m going to kick back,” Democratic state Sen. Carol Alvarado wrote on social media Friday. “I’ve submitted my intention to filibuster the new congressional maps. Going to be a long night.”
Democrats had already delayed the bill's passage during hours of debate, pressing state Sen. Phil King, the measure’s sponsor, on the proposal's legality, with many alleging that the redrawn districts violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting voters’ influence based on race — an accusation King vehemently denied.
“I had two goals in mind: That all maps would be legal and would be better for Republican congressional candidates in Texas,” said King, a Republican.
Alvarado, chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus, will not be able to take breaks to eat, drink or even go to the bathroom once she starts. She will be required to remain standing and cannot sit down or lean on her chair, desk or other lawmakers for support.
Her filibuster is unlikely to do more than delay the inevitable. In 2021, Alvarado spoke for 15 hours to protest GOP voting restrictions that ultimately became law.
The showdown in Texas has inflamed a broader, state-by-state redistricting battle, with governors from both parties pledging to redraw their congressional maps. It was kicked off by President Donald Trump pushing Texas Republicans to redraw the state's U.S. House map to help the party gain more seats in 2026.
California Democrats have punched back. They approved legislation Thursday calling for a special election in November for residents to vote on a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly signed the special election bill.
“This is not something six weeks ago that I ever imagined that I’d be doing,” Newsom said. “This is a reaction to an assault on our democracy in Texas.”
California’s map needs voter approval because, unlike in Texas, a nonpartisan commission normally draws the map to avoid the sort of political battle that is playing out.
Abbott on Friday called California’s redistricting “a joke” and said that while Texas’ new map is constitutional, he claimed California’s would be overturned.
The back-and-forth between the two states marks the starkest escalation yet in an emerging redistricting war, with both parties openly redrawing congressional lines to lock in power ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
A battle for US House control waged via redistricting
On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing districts puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. The incumbent president’s party usually loses congressional seats in the midterms.
The Texas redraw is already reshaping the 2026 race, with Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the dean of Texas’ congressional delegation, announcing Thursday that he will not seek reelection to his Austin-based seat if the new Republican-drawn map takes effect. Under the proposed map, Doggett's district would overlap with another Democratic incumbent, Rep. Greg Casar.
The president has pushed other Republican-controlled states including Indiana and Missouri to also revise their maps to add more winnable GOP seats. Ohio Republicans were also already scheduled to revise their maps to make them more partisan.
“Republicans are not finished in the United States,” Abbott said Friday.
Redistricting typically occurs once a decade, immediately after a census. While some states have their own limitations, there is no national impediment to a state trying to redraw districts in the middle of the decade.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said the Constitution does not outlaw partisan gerrymandering, only using race to redraw district lines.
“Fight fire with fire”
More Democratic-run states have commission systems like California’s or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can’t draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval.
Republicans and some Democrats championed the 2008 ballot measure that established California’s nonpartisan redistricting commission, along with the 2010 one that extended its role to drawing congressional maps.
Both sides have shown concern of what the redistricting war could lead to.
California Assemblyman James Gallagher, the Republican minority leader, said Trump was “wrong” to push for new Republican seats elsewhere. But he warned that Newsom’s approach, which the governor has dubbed “fight fire with fire,” was dangerous.
“You move forward fighting fire with fire and what happens?” Gallagher asked. “You burn it all down.”
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Cappelletti reported from Washington.
