Abbott Signature on Congress Map Gives
California Dems Trigger for Counter Punch
Capitol Inside
August 29, 2025
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a congressional redistricting plan into law on Friday in a move that will trigger the redrawing of the California map to nullify the effort here if voters there approve a ballot initiative that Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom dubbed the Election Rigging Response Act.
Abbott christened House Bill 4 as the "One Big Beautiful Map" as a tribute to President Donald Trump and the tax and spending bill that he pushed the Republican Congress earlier this year."This map ensures fairer representation in Congress," the Texas governor declared on X. "Texas will be more RED in Congress."
Newson responded to the Abbott tweet with a post on X that mocked the Texas leader. "Congratulations on your new position as Trump’s #1 lapdog, I know you worked hard for it!" the California governor said.
But Abbott declined to elaborate on the bigger picture with the new Texas map representing a singular victory in a battle for control of the lower house of Congress. Abbott's signature on HB 4 guarantees that the California Democrats will refashion the congressional plan there with at least five more districts drawn to favor Democratic candidates if voters give the green light as expected in November.
The signing of HB 4 capped off an impromptu redistricting process that Texas House Democrats managed to string out for nearly two months with a quorum-killing walkout that blocked a vote on the map for two weeks in the first special session here in 2025. Fifty-five Democrats refused to release their stranglehold on a quorum until GOP leaders agreed to cancel the final week of the initial session before starting the second in a symbolic admission of a tentative defeat.
The remap fight appeared to be the starting gun for a new leadership race in the state House where Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows claimed the gavel in January in a contest he could not have won without most of the Democrats in his corner. After being hoisted to the winner's circle with more votes from Democrats than Republicans, Burrows was forced to walk a tightrope on the minority party members' extended absence that was widely viewed as a stalling tactic with no realistic hope of holding out long enough to kill the bill.
The speaker sought to create the appearance of cracking down on quorum breakers by trumpeting a call on the House and subsequent unleashing of the Department of Public Safety in pursuit of missing Democrats with stakeouts, surveillance and other investigative techniques in a statewide search that failed to turn up a single missing lawmaker.
But House Republicans who are loyal to Burrows derailed a move in the party caucus to punish Democrats who broke quorum more severely with retroactive penalties and sanctions including the loss of committee chairs and vice-chairmanships. A motion for a more extreme censure need two-thirds support and came up short in a caucus vote of 44-27. Conservatives blamed Burrows for its failure.
The speaker's team tried to make it like its members were getting tough on Democrats who'd been absent when they locked down the chamber after a sufficient number returned to give their GOP colleagues the quorum they'd helped deny. House leaders refused to let any of the Democrats who'd been gone leave the chamber without giving permission for a DPS officer to shadow them for two days as a condition of freedom. The Democrats who were effectively on House arrest had returned to the chamber voluntarily while two dozen Democratic colleagues were still holding out and ignoring threats from Austin.
But the caucus vote sparked intense speculation and discussions among House Republicans who'd opposed Burrows in January about a potential mutiny
with GOP State Reps. Mitch Little of Lewisville and Brent Money of Greenville as possible challengers in a new speaker's race.
The congressional redistricting saga became a proxy fight in the race at the top of the 2026 Texas ticket with U.S. Senator John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton attempting to capitalize on the fight as much as possible. Cornyn announced at one point that federal agents would be on the trail of quorum-busting Democrats based on an ostensible promise from FBI Director Kash Patel that never materialized. The Federal Bureau of Investigation knew exactly where to find the missing Texas Democrats. Paxton filed a suit to have the Texas Supreme Court remove 13 House Democrats from office in a move that appeared to be going nowhere from the start. The U.S. Senate challenger secured a court order that prevented Beto O'Rourke from raising funds to support the absent Democrats. But the deed was already done.
House Republicans acknowledged during the floor fight on HB 4 that they'd held no public hearings on the specific legislation that had significant alterations from the version that was introduced during the initial summer session. The testimony was overwhelming critical of the GOP map plans at a series of hearings that House and Senate committees conducted before HB 4 was filed at the start of the second session with the changes from the plan that was introduced.
Trump and the Republicans have the numbers on their side in an arms race that Abbott and his GOP allies in Austin ignited at the president's command in early July. Trump pressured GOP state lawmakers in Indiania in a meeting this week designed as a pitch for a mid-decade redistricting effort there. Ohio Republican legislators are under fire from the president as well to draw added seats for the GOP on a map that they were already had a deadline to produce.
Abbott and the Republicans in Texas have no guarantees that the party will pick up all five targeted districts on the new congressional map. Three of those could be in Democrats' reach for an array of reasons.
more to come ...
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