Texas Republicans are cheating. Democrats’ best option is not to play | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Texas Republicans are using the special session to advance corrupt partisan redistricting.
- Democrats’ quorum break protests gerrymandering and dilution of minority voting power.
- Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat of penalties shows how the GOP will play dirty.
Just a few years ago, congressional Democrats tried to prevent Austin from losing its mind, passing a bill that tried to save Texas from its own partisanship.
In 2019, the Freedom to Vote Act sought to eliminate partisan gerrymandering by requiring independent commissions to draw lines for U.S. House districts, with each commission including an equal number of Democrats, Republicans and independents. Had it passed, the Freedom to Vote Act would have brought redistricting in compliance with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a key provision of the landmark civil-rights law that prevented jurisdictions with a history of discriminating against minorities from making changes without federal approval.
But each time Democrats brought the Freedom to Vote Act to a vote in the House, every single Republican voted against the bill. In 2021, Senate Republicans blocked it via filibuster.
Four years later, state Republicans, at the command of Republican Party leader Donald Trump, are using a special session ostensibly intended for helping flood relief victims to instead reshape our state’s congressional districts using the same corrupt tactics their opponents tried to prevent.
Gerrymandering wasn’t invented in Austin, nor is it the sole domain of red states — hence the Freedom to Vote Act’s numerous provisions against preventing abuses of power from both sides. And in Texas, the ruling party isn’t even attempting a fair or logical process. The two parties each have their problems. However, regarding access to the voting booth and the power it wields, Republicans and Democrats are not the same.
So, what is a state Democrat to do? They could continue enabling Republicans as their coworkers dilute Black and Latino votes by packing their erstwhile constituents in congressional districts that resemble abstract paintings. They could preserve the status quo and keep their membership in a glorified high school Model United Nations club, with roughly the same amount of influence.
Or they could leave. Go on a functional strike to show Texans and, really, Americans that their situation has been cynically manipulated to a degree that requires a loud and radical response. They wouldn’t do it unless they believed the extreme-but-legal act of breaking quorum will ripple into the voting booth (and, I suspect, boost their donor rolls).
Abandoning Austin for Chicago’s concrete beaches (don’t knock until you try it) and hot dogs with far, far too many toppings (tried, will knock!) appropriately raises the stakes by drawing attention to the failures of politics as usual. Breaking the emergency glass shows onlookers this is an emergency much bigger than wonky debates over whether their district should be R+8 or D+3, but that Republican dawdling on flood legislation to win a few congressional seats is a flagrant disregard for Texans in the throes of grief and a culmination of the GOP’s nihilistic governance.
This is assuredly salient to their typical voting base. And maybe more. A July NPR poll found that 76% of Americans believe democracy is under serious threat. There’s no better time to connect the dots for spectators wondering why the lege is more worried about kicking trans people out of their bathrooms (a friendly reminder that there’s no evidence letting trans people use the bathroom they want endangers anyone) and deceptively prearranging midterm elections than providing direct relief to their neighbors.
Maybe, to borrow from Chicago legend Lupe Fiasco, state Dems want to believe their own hype, but it’s too untrue. My colleague Ryan J. Rusak more or less argued the same — few voters will actually care about what Democrats are fighting for, and besides, they’re delaying the inevitable. Admittedly, I’m biased in the other direction: my grandparents marched and organized in the 1960s to bring attention to their version of the problems Dems are exposing now.
While Rusak strongly disagreed with Dem tactics, he acknowledged that Republicans could still screw this up with what he called “banana republic” arrests of truant lawmakers. Hours after he published his take, the remaining lawmakers voted 85-6 to arrest their colleagues once they cross state lines, which is another way of saying that 85 Republicans voted to give their opponents an incredible photo op.
Gov. Greg Abbott also threatened to unilaterally remove every Democrat who didn’t show up from office. Aight, cool. What value is an elected office systematically stripped of its power?
If Abbott doesn’t cuff or fine Democrats or improvise some other punishment, they will have successfully called him out on his bluff while positioning themselves as the last line of defense for a deteriorating democracy. That’s fine. Taking another cue from Mr. Fiasco, if they are who they say they are, then have no fear. The camera’s here and the lights are trained on them for a reason: to unveil the extent Texas Republicans will go to circumvent the will of the people.
When every precedent is circumvented and norm is trampled, then the only real rule left is that it has to work.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Texas Republicans are cheating. Democrats’ best option is not to play | Opinion."
