Editorial written by The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board.
It was all but inevitable. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled the state Sunday to prevent the Legislature from voting on new, ultra-GOP-gerrymandered congressional districts.
If Democrats want to re-enact famous episodes in Texas history, they should have remained here and cast themselves as modern defenders of the Alamo: destined for doom but resolved to stay and fight. It’s not a good look to taunt Republicans with “Come and Take It” — an iconic reference to a cannon used in the Texas Revolution — from Illinois.
Even so, Texans know who is to blame for this pointless political theater: Republicans. There was no legitimate reason to redraw the maps ahead of the 2030 census. There was only a cynical desire for power.
President Donald Trump has a single-digit Republican majority in the U.S. House. Historically, the president’s party loses seats during the midterm elections.
But if Trump has proved anything, it’s that historical precedents don’t seem to apply to him. His approval ratings are low but stable, his base is as energized as ever, and Democrats still are searching for messages and policies that attract middle America. Republicans now in Congress don’t seem as endangered as they would have been in the past.
However, Trump wanted to guarantee he’d keep a Republican majority, so he leaned on state GOP leaders to redraw U.S. House districts now. Gov. Greg Abbott could have demurred. He could have said lawmakers needed to focus on flood relief and issues leftover from the regular session during the special session. Instead, Abbott agreed to help create more safe Republican seats.
The governor’s power grab is a corruption of the political process. The current congressional maps were drawn by Republicans, defended by Republicans and constitutional. Texans who testified at redistricting hearings around the state were nearly unanimous in their opposition to the plan. Republicans released new maps almost immediately after the hearings, suggesting they had never planned to incorporate public comments into their districts.
Democrats decided to leave the state to prevent the Texas House from voting on the new maps. In response, Abbott has threatened to remove lawmakers from their seats, based on a single opinion from a Texas attorney generally with the credibility of a $3 bill. Such a move would disenfranchise millions of Texas voters and directly assault democracy. This newspaper also reported that Abbott is spending $750,000 on ads that target Democrats who broke quorum.
This region is not homogenous politically, economically, racially or ethnically and those perspectives all deserve representation in Washington. Fort Worth, which has a majority nonwhite population, would lose its only nonwhite representative in Congress. One diverse Dallas County district, now represented by Democrat Julie Johnson, would be redrawn to favor Republicans.
Democratic-leaning states are now considering redistricting to counter Texas’ move. Just what we need: Republicans in blue states feeling just as disenfranchised and betrayed as Democrats do in Texas.
