The Texas redistricting battle landed on the steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston Wednesday.
Democratic lawmakers left Texas Sunday to prevent a vote on a Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan there. President Trump wants the district maps in Texas redrawn before the 2026 midterm elections. That could add an additional five Republican seats to Congress. Republicans currently control the U.S. House of Representatives by just three seats.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the civil arrest of the 55 Democrats who fled the state.
Some of those Democrats have been in Boston this week. A few met with Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, at the State House on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, they were joined by Democratic state legislators from around the country at a rally on Beacon Hill to mark the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
“We came to Boston to remind America; we don’t have a king here. We have a Constitution,” Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado told the crowd. “We’re here to say Texas will not go quietly into the night and neither should you.”
“If it can happen in Texas, the second largest state in the country, it will happen elsewhere. This is not a one-off. This is a blueprint. If we do not stop it now, they’ll copy and paste it across the country,” she added.
Trump on gerrymandering
President Trump told CNBC Tuesday it was Democrats who started gerrymandering, referencing Massachusetts.
“In Massachusetts, I got I think, 41% of the vote. It’s a very you know blue state. And yet, it’s got 100% of Congress,” the president said.
“It’s not just Texas. After Texas it will be your state. After your state it will be this entire country,” State Senator Borris Miles of Houston said at the rally.
“We’re not fleeing”
“We’re spreading the word around the country. We’re not fleeing,” said State Senator Royce West of Dallas. “We’re doing just like Paul Revere did. We’re spreading the world and letting you know that rigged districting is coming.”
It’s not clear when the lawmakers will return home to Texas.
According to State Senator José Menéndez of San Antonio, the state representatives get paid $600 a month and they’re being fined $500 a day.
