'Then Trump placed a call': Insiders reveal TX GOP had been against gerrymandering scheme

"Texas Republicans, including Gov. Abbott, were reluctant to redraw the state’s congressional maps. Then Trump got involved." was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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WASHINGTON — Before he called lawmakers back to Austin to redraw Texas’ congressional maps, Gov. Greg Abbott was initially resistant to the plan pushed by President Donald Trump’s political team to pick up new GOP seats through a rare mid-decade redistricting, according to two people who have spoken to Abbott and the White House about the behind-the-scenes discussions.

The majority of Texas’ GOP congressional delegation was also wary of the idea, with many members concerned that Republican map-drawers could miscalculate and spread their voters too thin — thus putting their jobs in jeopardy — while trying to flip Democratic seats, six people involved in internal delegation discussions told The Texas Tribune.

Abbott told House Republicans from Texas that he was reluctant to take up the issue in Austin, where state lawmakers approve the new lines, if it would pit him against the delegation. In discussions with Abbott’s office, White House staffers attempted to assuage his worries but were unsuccessful, according to two people with direct knowledge of the developments.

Then, Trump placed a call to Abbott during which they discussed redistricting. The governor subsequently agreed to put it on his agenda for the special session, according to two people who spoke with White House officials about the call, one of whom also discussed the matter with Abbott's office.

Trump’s involvement underscores the immense power he holds over Texas Republicans and shows how far the president will go to protect his Washington trifecta that has handed him sweeping legislative wins, even if that means irritating those who are voting to approve his agenda in Congress.

If Republicans lose control of the House in next year’s midterms, Trump’s agenda would be stalled and his remaining two lame-duck years in the White House would likely be replete with Democratic-led investigations.

The details of the redistricting dynamics were relayed through almost a dozen people, many of whom were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations that could have legal implications. Any new map passed by the Legislature would almost certainly be challenged in court.

A person familiar with Abbott’s thinking said it was “inaccurate” to characterize the governor as being reluctant to pursue redistricting, but declined to provide any additional details.

Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott, declined to comment on Abbott’s conversations with Trump and other Republicans about redistricting but said the governor “looks forward to the legislature addressing important topics such as flood relief and property tax cuts, along with other critical issues, during this special session.”

On July 9, Abbott announced the agenda for the special session that began Monday, laying out an 18-item to-do list that included a rare mid-decade makeover of the state’s congressional maps. The district lines are typically redrawn once a decade, to account for population changes in the U.S. census, though there is nothing barring lawmakers from crafting new maps in the intervening years.

In private delegation meetings, most Texas members actively opposed the idea. Others said redistricting was inevitable once it received Trump’s backing, and they should try to work with the White House to draw the maps in their favor. A few stayed silent on the issue or did not actively participate.

Their opposition was communicated to the White House, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, but it appears they were ignored. Multiple Texas congressional staffers told The Texas Tribune that some Republicans did not receive notice of Abbott’s decision to go ahead with redistricting before he announced it publicly.

Most of the 25 Republicans in Texas’ congressional delegation have stayed publicly mum. Seven of them declined to comment for this article.

With Abbott on board and the special session announced, Trump held a call last week with the Texas GOP members and declared his political team intended to flip an ambitious five seats with the new map, according to three people familiar with the call.

The message was clear among the delegation: there was no stopping the president and they should get on board.

“I believe that you got to give President Trump the respect,” Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, said. “If we can redraw Texas and it fits within all the confines of law and everything, well, then let's get ’er done.”

Abbott justified the redistricting by saying it was needed to address “constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice” about the current maps, which were drawn in 2021 and are the subject of an ongoing court challenge.

The concerns were raised in a DOJ letter dated two days before Abbott announced the special session, in which Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon argued that four of Texas’ Democratic-controlled districts were unconstitutional and should be redrawn on the grounds of racial gerrymandering.

Since the special session agenda was unveiled, Democrats have been calling the letter a fig leaf that provides political cover for the partisan motivation behind the redistricting effort.

News of Texas’ redistricting has also set off a cascade of events that may have national implications.

For weeks, House Democratic leadership, rank-and-file members and representatives for blue state governors have been meeting to discuss retaliatory redistricting, The Texas Tribune previously reported. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has become more outspoken about doing so in his state in recent days, laying out several paths to circumvent the state’s independent redistricting commission.

Members of the California congressional delegation met with Jeffries last week. The group was largely in favor of redistricting to give Democrats another five to seven seats, according to two House Democrats who were in attendance.

Paul Mitchell, an expert in redistricting who has met with Newsom’s team in recent weeks, thinks that California could easily squeeze four Democratic seats out of the state.

“California has a much better hand, because we are starting from the partisan-neutral map,” Mitchell said, referring to the independent commission that approved the current lines.

In Texas, the maps are drawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature and have already been crafted to favor the GOP, giving them less wiggle room to send additional party members to Washington. In California, on the other hand, the independent commission has not as aggressively optimized the maps in favor of Democrats, giving a partisan-motivated body more freedom to shape the lines in favor of their party.

The boldness of the new Texas map — and whether Trump targets additional states, a possibility he suggested last week — could dictate how much political support Newsom and other blue state leaders could expect to get for a retaliatory redistricting effort, Mitchell said. The more aggressive Republicans are, the more justification there is for Democrats to respond in kind.

Texas Democrats could also flee the state, depriving the Legislature of the quorum it needs to approve new maps. But doing so would incur fines, and Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened to use law enforcement to compel the attendance of absent lawmakers.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s campaign arm for House races nationwide, has promised to wield its multimillion-dollar war chest against any Republicans who find themselves vulnerable under a new Texas map.

The DCCC has also pledged a six-figure sum for a public opinion campaign aimed at dissuading Texas Republicans from going through with the redistricting plan, according to a staffer with knowledge of the charge.