House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is set to hold a meeting with Texas Democrats on Wednesday as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is calling the state delegation back to redraw the state’s congressional map.
The visit comes as the House Majority PAC, which backs House Democrats, launched a “Lone Star Fund” to spend upwards of $20 million to recruit and support Texas Democrats to counter the GOP’s redistricting effort.
The Texas GOP and the White House have started moving to redraw House district lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, as the party grapples for ways to keep its majority and Democrats seek to break up a GOP trifecta. Republicans face an uphill battle to maintain their thin margins, as the minority leader heads for Texas, per a source familiar.
With this Trump-backed redistricting, the White House is aiming to pick up five Republican seats in the state. While this could help Republicans pick up seats in the midterm election — as the state holds 38 of the 435 seats in the House — moving districts around to push out Democrats could also pull red votes from other red districts, making them no longer safe GOP seats.
Democrats have pushed back on the Republican effort in the Lone Star State, with Democratic governors threatening to draw red seats out of their states. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) met with Texas Democrats as they lead the charge in pushing back on the Republican effort to talk through the possibility of staging a walkout to delay the special session. Jeffries heads to California later this week, per a source familiar.
Typically, congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years based on population shifts documented by the census counts, next up in 2030. But the Justice Department sent Texas a letter in July arguing that four Democratic congressional districts were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. While Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defended the legality of the districts, Abbott cited “constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice” when calling for the special legislative session to consider new maps, which have not yet been revealed.
President Donald Trump has also pushed for new maps and predicted the state could create five more Republican seats in Congress to better secure the party’s majority.
WASHINGTON WAITS AS TEXAS REACTS TO DEADLY FLOODS
If the redistricting effort is successful, Republicans would hold 30 of the 38 seats, 79% of the allotted seats in the House. The party only held 58% of the total congressional votes in last year’s election.
Democrats are on defense in the House, with 41 seats rated competitive compared to the 29 marked competitive for the GOP. Democrats only need a net gain of three seats to flip the House. Historically, the House flips to the party opposite the White House in the midterm elections.