Taking effect alongside over 800 other laws in Texas on Sept. 1 was the highly controversial House Bill 4. The bill that concerns the congressional redistricting of the state of Texas has taken the spotlight after a break in quorum by Democratic law makers and President Trump’s push for states to redistrict in favor of the Republican party for the 2026 midterm elections.
Since the bill’s introduction, Texas Democrats have gained traction with their protest of Trump’s push. Other Democratic governors have now joined the fight, threatening to redraw their state’s congressional districts to favor the Democratic party. Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken a big step, drawing a new map for California and setting a special election for this November, leaving the decision to the people.
The first called special session of the Texas legislature was a 30-day session called to order on July 21 to consider legislation concerning flood relief, alert systems and emergency response, after the July 4 floods in Central Texas that killed at least 138 adults and children. With the introduction of the redistricting bill, however, the House Calendars Committee fast tracked the bill to be prioritized first over the flood relief legislation.
After the introduction of the redistricting bill, dozens of Texas Democrats fled the state on Aug. 3 to break quorum in protest of the highly controversial map. Democrats took temporary residence in Illinois, with the help of Gov. JB Pritzker. While in Chicago, Democratic Representative Mihaela Plesa said her days did not really change.
“I mean, for the most part, my days were pretty much similar. I would have, you know, my morning meetings with my staff. I would have different types of meetings that I would have with different governors, talking to different allied groups and constituents or agencies. So most of my schedule pretty much stayed the same.”
Not all Democrats left the state and received a lot of backlash from the public. According to Plesa, the reason for them not leaving has nothing to do with their stance on the issue. “Everyone had their own reasoning for the decision that they made. I think that when we were talking about the possibility of needing to break quorum, right, it was always going to be a personal decision for each member as to if they would be able to participate or not,” Plesa said. She added that many representatives had business they could not leave for weeks at a time, and some had pre-excused medical reasons and could not leave the state at that time.
Upon return on Aug. 17, Democrats were issued permission slips that stated that they are not allowed to leave the house floor without an armed officer. This is what led to Democratic Rep. Nicole Collier staying overnight on the house floor as she refused to sign the slip. Democrats continued their fight against these permission slips on August 20, stating that it violated the Texas constitution. After the bill was passed, each Democrat who broke quorum was issued fines in the amount of $9,300.
On Aug. 20, Hunter formally took the floor to officially present HB4. In Hunter’s opening remarks, he commented on the many controversial questions representatives, media, and the public have been asking. First, commenting on the reasoning for the new map, he said, “The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward. Improve Republican political performance.”
Also responding to the way the maps were decided, Hunter said “These districts were drawn primarily using political performance to guide the redrawing.” Redrawing districts based on political performance has been highly controversial for decades, but it was officially settled in 2019 by the U.S. Supreme Court, Hunter quotes “We are allowed to redraw districts on the basis of political performance as deemed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Rucho vs Common Cause.”
The districts being redrawn are CD9, CD28, CD32, and CD34. The ideal size of a district is 766,987. Taking into account this size and the results of the 2024 elections, the criteria for making this map.
The bill was finally concluded on Aug. 29, after being signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
