A redistricting arms race? Texas Republicans' plan to redraw the congressional map and eliminate five Democratic-held U.S. House seats, which would help the GOP retain control of the House in next year's midterm elections, sent Democrats in the Texas legislature fleeing to Illinois and New York to avoid a sufficient “quorum” in the chamber to vote on the measure.
The spat led off Monday evening’s PBS News Hour, including clips of Democratic governors from the states of Illinois and New York weighing in (more on those interesting choices of refuge later).
Geoff Bennett: Welcome to the "News Hour." Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives have fled the state in order to block the passage of a new congressional map. The redistricting is a priority for President Trump, but critics call it gerrymandering and election rigging. Stephanie Sy has more.
Just "critics"? Not Democrats?
Stephanie Sy noted that Democrats "landed in Democratic strongholds like Chicago....and Albany" and ran clips of the pompous Democratic governors of Illinois and New York.
Sy: Democratic governors welcomed them. In Illinois, J.B. Pritzker:
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL): Let's be clear. This is not just rigging the system in Texas. It's about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come.
Sy: And, in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, who said if the Texas maps moved forward, she would push her state to redraw its own congressional map to boost Democrats.
Illinois and New York are certainly interesting choices to flee from the horrors of partisan redistricting. It was up to late night talk show host Stephen Colbert to gently bring up Illinois’s own bizarre gerrymandered maps with Illinois’s Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker on The Late Show Tuesday night. Colbert held up a map of Illinois’s currently Democratic-skewed congressional maps and asked Pritzker, “if you're considering doing a little more redrawing in Illinois, you already have some crazy districts in Illinois.”
Indeed, in 2021 Democrats in Illinois used the new Census figures to squeeze out a Republican-held seat, taking an already overwhelming Democrat advantage (just five Republican seats) down to three. And in 2022 the Democratic-run New York state legislature intervened in the state’s redistricting process to redraw congressional maps in the Democrats’ favor. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law. None of this made PBS.
Sy: Besides what Democrats see as a brazen power grab, the new map could disproportionately disenfranchise Black and Latino voters. Republicans, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, have been quick to fulfill the president's wishes.
Monday’s show offered more of the same Democratic spin from a Texas Democratic politician. Bennett announced later that Texas’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was invited on the show but declined to appear, which is like announcing someone to declined to show up for the journalistic equivalent of waterboarding. It doesn't mean PBS couldn't find anyone to take the Republican side. They use this to excuse having no Republican guest.
Bennett: For more on Texas Democrats' efforts to block mid-decade redistricting in the state, we're joined now by state Representative James Talarico, who's currently in Illinois….
Talarico has become a viral sensation among Democrats, making PBS look like it's copying MSNBC again. He trashed Gov. Abbott: "I mean, we're getting close to banana republic territory here. He is taking a page out of Donald Trump's authoritarian playbook. He is less charming, less charismatic, but he is still just as dangerous."
Tuesday evening’s show opened the same slanted way.
Geoff Bennett: We begin tonight in Texas, where the state's attorney general is ramping up pressure on House Democrats who left the state to block a vote on a new congressional map. Ken Paxton says he's seeking court orders to declare the Democrats' seats vacant if they aren't back to work by Friday…..Some of the Democrats are in Illinois. They said today that the redrawn map would disenfranchise voters of color and that they're not backing down.
But no mention was made of the irony and hypocrisy of Democrats fleeing to states that engaged in their own partisan Democrat redistricting processes just a few years ago.
This segment was brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. For now, it's still also paid for by Republican taxpayers.
A transcript is available, click "Expand."
PBS News Hour
8/4/25
7:02:51 p.m. (ET)
Geoff Bennett: Welcome to the "News Hour."
Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives have fled the state in order to block the passage of a new congressional map. The redistricting is a priority for President Trump, but critics call it gerrymandering and election rigging.
Stephanie Sy has more.
Stephanie Sy: In the Texas House of Representatives today:
State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-TX): Members, a quorum is not present.
Stephanie Sy: Gridlock. The Republican majority had planned to vote through new partisan congressional district maps, a goal pushed by President Trump and one of the reasons for this special session.
State Rep. Dustin Burrows: To those who are absent, return now. The people of Texas are watching, and so is the nation. And if you choose to continue down this road, you should know there will be consequences.
Stephanie Sy: Instead, nearly every Democrat was absent from the chamber, preventing any voting.
State Rep. Venton Jones (D-TX): This is state Representative Venton Jones, and we're here at the airport preparing to break quorum.
Stephanie Sy: Many of them had fled the state Sunday, posting their protests from the tarmac.
State Rep. Venton Jones: The governor and president has forced redistricting down our throats.
State Rep. Ramon Romero Jr. (D-TX): I'm out, but I'm here for you.
Stephanie Sy: They landed in Democratic strongholds like Chicago.
STATE REP. GENE WU (D-TX): If Donald Trump is allowed to do this, if he is allowed to once again cheat and get away with it, there's no stopping this.
Stephanie Sy: And Albany.
State Rep. Mihaela Plesa (D-TX): The fight to protect democracy is not confined to one state. The fight is for all 50.
Stephanie Sy: Democratic governors welcomed them. In Illinois, J.B. Pritzker:
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL): Let's be clear. This is not just rigging the system in Texas. It's about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come.
Stephanie Sy: And, in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, who said if the Texas maps moved forward, she would push her state to redraw its own congressional map to boost Democrats.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY): If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us no choice. We must do the same.
Stephanie Sy: An escalation in a redistricting arms race. It started with Texas Republicans' plan to axe five Democratic-held U.S. House seats. Currently, Republicans hold 25 of the state's 38 seats in the chamber. The proposed map would bring the number of likely Republican-held seats to 30, bolstering the chances of the GOP maintaining control of the House in next year's midterm elections and beyond.
Besides what Democrats see as a brazen power grab, the new map could disproportionately disenfranchise Black and Latino voters. Republicans, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, have been quick to fulfill the president's wishes.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX): They're very un-Texan. Texans don't run from a fight.
Stephanie Sy: Governor Abbott was on FOX News today.
Gov. Greg Abbott: Because these Democrats have absconded from the responsibility, and I believe they have forfeited their seats in the legislature because they're not doing the job they were elected to do.
Stephanie Sy: In Austin today, Republicans in the Texas House passed a motion to call the absent members back under warrant of arrest if necessary.
But despite the threats and facing fines of $500 per day, Democrats say they have no intention of returning until the special session ends on August 19.
Stephanie Sy: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy.
