The chair of the Texas redistricting committee, Republican state Rep. Cody Vasut, said during a Thursday hearing that "it is prudent and proper" for the committee to deal with items the governor put on the agenda, and that "we have no plans to change any particular district."

The legislature is meeting in special session to draft plans that could give the party five more seats in Congress.

One of the priorities during the 30-day special session of the Texas Legislature is a request by Governor Greg Abbott to redraw political boundaries in the state to benefit the Republican party.

Texas Republicans launched a high-risk, high-reward redrawing of the state's 38 congressional districts, a move championed by President Donald Trump to protect the party's narrow House majority in next year's midterm elections.

The Texas GOP knows the risk. In the 2010s, the Republican-controlled Legislature drew political lines that helped pad the GOP’s House majority. That lasted until 2018, when a backlash against Trump in his first term led Democrats to flip two seats in Texas that Republicans had thought safe.

In a Washington Post column published on the 4th of July, one of the most famous Never Trump conservatives in the United States — 84-year-old George Will — argued that Texas' 2026 U.S. Senate race just might be in play for Democrats if State Attorney General Ken Paxton is the nominee.

Democratic Governors Laura Kelly (Kansas) and Tim Walz (Minnesota) are splitting from the National Governors Association (NGA) over its response to President Trump's policies, and will not be paying NGA dues as the group gathers for its summer meeting in Colorado this week.

Texas Democrats can run from Republicans' gerrymandering, but they can't hide. No walkouts, blue state redistricting or Voting Rights Act protections can thwart Trump's plot to keep the U.S. House.