Dozens of Texas House Democrats fled the state more than two weeks ago to deny their Republican-majority colleagues the attendance necessary to vote on redrawn maps intended to send five more Texas Republicans to Washington.
President Trump would like to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms during his first presidency, when Democrats regained House control and used their majority to stymie his agenda and twice impeach him. On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing district lines puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. Of the 435 total House seats, only several dozen districts are competitive. So even slight changes in a few states could affect which party wins control.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott jumped to the president's aid, adding redistricting to the agenda of an initial special session agenda that included a number of issues, but most notably a package of bills responding to devastating floods that killed more than 130 people last month.
Abbott has blamed Democrats' absence for delaying action on those measures.
