Texas Democrats vow to use delay tactics to drag out GOP redistricting effort

As the Texas Legislature’s overtime special session kicked off Monday, Democratic lawmakers promised to make their Republican colleagues’ efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps as painful and protracted a battle as possible. They threatened to drag out hearings, filibuster and even flee the state to deny the quorum necessary to conduct legislative business.

As the minority in both chambers, Democrats have few options to stop redistricting through normal legislative channels. While they’ve managed to delay controversial legislation through filibusters and quorum breaks over the years, they’ve never successfully killed such a high-profile measure through these back-door methods.

Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said they still have to try, “whether we win or lose, no matter what happens.”

In a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott sent Monday, a majority of House Democrats called on the governor to prioritize responding to the Central Texas floods, saying they “refuse to engage in any other legislative work until after adequate flood relief and disaster mitigation legislation are passed and signed by the Governor.”




https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/21/texas-democrats-redistricting-special-session-delay-quorum-break/