Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to remove House Democrats from office if they don't return to the state for a vote over congressional map redistricting. Democratic lawmakers fled to Illinois, trying to delay the vote.

Texas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued an ultimatum to Democratic lawmakers, demanding their return to the state legislature or threatening to expel them from office. The Democrats left Texas to prevent a vote on a redistricting plan they describe as racially biased and gerrymandered.

The standoff centers on proposed changes to congressional maps, which could shift several seats in favor of Republicans and impact the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. The situation has prompted discussions in other states, including California, about potential redistricting responses, though legal and procedural hurdles differ significantly.

Abbott threatens to expel Texas House Democrats

Again, with a political standoff in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has given Democratic lawmakers here until 3 p.m. local time, that's 4 p.m. Eastern today, to get back to the state, or he will kick them out of office. They fled to Illinois to prevent a vote on a controversial redistricting plan. Texas Minority Leader Gene Woo is standing by that decision, calling the plan, quote, racist. The tool they're using is a racist, gerrymandered map, a map that seeks to use racial lines to divide hardworking communities who have spent decades building up their power and strengthening their voices. And Governor Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump. All right, we've got CBS News political reporter Hunter Woodall joining us from Washington with more on this. Good morning, Hunter. You know, we've seen these types of tactics before, not just from Democrats, but Republicans, too, so why are Democrats in Texas doing this now, and what is the risk? Good morning, Errol. What you're seeing from Texas Democrats here is a little bit of a byproduct of voters clearly, after these 2024 election losses, for Democrats, they've been saying they wanna see Democrats fight back. This is one of those avenues. Now, this might just simply delay the inevitable in Texas, or it may actually have an impact as more and more attention goes around to this redistricting push. Now, it's important to remember, in Texas, if Republicans are successful in the push that they are currently undertaking, this could cause five Democratic congressional seats to be redrawn in a way that favors Republicans. This would be a major impact on the 2026 midterms, because right now, House Republicans only essentially have a three-seat majority, and that's why this push is having so many national implications, because what happens in Texas could also have downstream effects around the whole country. Right, it's all about if Democrats will be able to gain some power in the House come midterms, but, Hunter, California Governor Gavin Newsom is likely to ask legislators there to start redrawing the state's district maps in response to what's happening in Texas, so how could this impact the larger national picture? Well, Errol, that's exactly right. California Governor Gavin Newsom is clearly going to push California Democrats to redraw that state's maps. Now, I want to emphasize this heavily. California Democrats face a much larger hurdle to actually get that done in California compared to what Republicans are doing in Texas. In Texas, Republicans are just going to likely have to go through the legislature, get the governor to sign off on those plans. In California, it actually is likely going to take a constitutional amendment, one that has to pass both chambers in the California legislature, and then also be put in front of voters in the upcoming election ahead of the 2026 midterms to even change those maps. So California can, essentially has a route to do this, but it's going to take some work. All right, Hunter Woodall from our DC Bureau with the latest on this. Hunter, thank you.

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