Texas Democratic lawmakers are leaving the state to prevent election reform favorable to Trump.

WashingtonFifty-one Democratic congressmen have left Texas to seek refuge in other Democratic-majority states for at least two weeks. The anger of the Republican cowboys has not been long in coming: in the state Assembly, they voted to issue an arrest warrant for them; the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has labeled them "criminals" and threatened to extradite them; and the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, also a Republican, is considering arresting them. The reason for all this commotion is a reform of the Texas electoral map that the Republicans want to pass and that would make it easier for Donald Trump to maintain control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

The redistricting of electoral districts, which has the fervent support of the president, would further bolster their plan to seize control of the legislature from Trump, specifically the House of Representatives. In November of next year, the 435 seats in the lower house will be up for grabs, where Republicans hold a fragile majority held together by five representatives. They control the Senate with 53 seats to 47, and only a third (35 seats) will be up for renewal.

The special session to approve the new electoral system, which is expected to last until mid-August, began this Monday with more than a third of the Texas Assembly empty. Beyond the symbolic gesture of the absence of Democratic representatives, Texas law stipulates that in order for the reform to be approved, at least two-thirds of the local representatives must be present during the vote. That is, of the 150 congressmen, there must be at least 100. But right now there are only 99.

Marching in the state has not been a showy gesture either. It was necessary to secure the blockade because, if the Democrats remained in Texas, local law provided for the possibility of police tracking them down and forcing them to appear at the state Capitol to proceed with the vote. "We are not running away from our responsibilities; we have left a rigged system that refuses to listen to the voters we represent," Gene Wu, chairman of the Texas Assembly Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.

Illinois and New York have been the main recipients of the Democratic lawmakers. Illinois' Democratic Governor, JB Pritzker, appeared with the fleeing lawmakers who denounced the Republican overhaul as an unfair and authoritarian attempt to override the will of the voters. "We will give it our all. You have to give it your all when a cult leader and would-be dictator tells Texas it must change the rules of the game mid-game because he knows he will lose in 2026. We must give it our all," Pritzker declared. Faced with the possibility of a redistricting in Texas, Democrats have assured that they will also take similar measures in other states to make up for the difference.

The Texas electoral map reform responds to the constitutional obligation to review the boundaries every time a new census is completed, once every ten years, to ensure that the districts accurately represent the population. The problem is that this review has led to a common practice by both parties: redrawing districts to ensure victory.