What is gerrymandering and why Democrat lawmakers fled Texas

What is gerrymandering?

Gerrymandering is the redrawing of voting districts in a way that benefits one party over another.

After every national census, states adjust their electoral maps to account for population changes. But how those lines are redrawn depends on state laws. And in many states, it’s politicians who control that process.

So, instead of creating fair, competitive districts, parties in power often redraw maps to give themselves an edge, sometimes a big one.

How does it skew democracy?

Think of it as politicians choosing their voters, rather than the other way around. There are two main tactics:

Packing: Concentrating voters from the opposition party into a few districts, so they win big there but have no influence elsewhere.

Cracking: Splitting opposition voters across many districts so they cannot form a majority in any one of them.

Both strategies reduce the power of certain votes and make elections less competitive overall.

For example, in North Carolina, the overall vote share between Democrats and Republicans is relatively even. But Republicans currently hold 10 out of 14 congressional seats largely because of how the districts have been drawn.

Why have Democrat lawmakers left Texas?

Texas Republican leaders, backed by US President Donald Trump, recently moved to redraw the lines of electoral districts in the state. Basically, the effort is to create districts where Republican voters are concentrated in a way that gives that party an advantage.

Usually, this redrawing happens every 10 years, after the census. But Texas is going for a rare — though legal — mid-decade redrawing, to help the Republicans win more seats in the midterm polls. “I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats,” Trump recently told CNBC.

The Texas House requires two thirds of legislators to be present for a vote. The Texas House of Representatives in Austin has 150 seats and Democrats hold 62 of them. To stop the vote, 57 Democratic state lawmakers left Texas, scattering across the country and denying the legislature the required quorum.

Where does the word ‘gerrymandering’ come from?

The term dates back more than 200 years. In 1812, Elbridge Gerry, then the governor of Massachusetts, approved a voting map with one district so oddly shaped, critics said it looked like a salamander. A newspaper dubbed it the “Gerry-mander” and the term stuck.

Ironically, Gerry (whose name was pronounced “Gary”) didn’t even support the redrawing idea, and signed the Bill because his party wanted him to. But the political fallout lasted far longer than his career.

Is gerrymandering legal?

Yes.

In 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled that courts couldn’t block gerrymandering done to help a political party. The majority opinion said it wasn’t the judiciary’s role to referee partisan power struggles in this way.

However, there are limits. Gerrymandering that reduces the voting power of racial minorities is prohibited under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But even those protections have been compromised in recent years through a series of court decisions.

Can Democrats keep blocking this vote?

Only as long as they stay out of reach.

By fleeing the state, they have denied the House the quorum it needs to operate. But that tactic comes at a steep cost, literally. Each absent lawmaker is being fined $500 a day. If they don’t return, those penalties could exceed $3 million by the end of the year.

Have Democrats indulged in gerrymandering?

Yes, when they have the chance.

In Illinois, for example, Democrats won 14 out of 17 House seats in 2024, despite only narrowly beating Republicans in the popular vote. But in states like California, Democrats have voluntarily handed redistricting over to independent commissions. This move, meant to make elections fairer, limits their ability to gerrymander. Republican states with similar commissions have often overridden them.

In light of the Texas drama, Democratic Governors of states like California and Illinois have said they would look at mounting a similar attempt in their states.

How does this affect the US midterms?

Midterm elections almost always deliver losses for the sitting president’s party. If that trend holds, Trump and the Republicans are likely to face headwinds in 2026. Gerrymandering is one way to blunt those losses.

But if voter sentiment shifts strongly, even the most carefully drawn maps cannot hold back a wave. Democrats only need a few more seats to flip the House and even aggressive redistricting might not be enough to stop that.