Texas and California joust for political advantage, with Trump power and US House majority in play

Austin, Texas – The two most populous states of the nation – California and Texas – have attacked a political advantage before the 2026 elections which could reorganize the balance of powers in Washington and threaten the agenda of President Donald Trump in the midst of his second term.

In Texas, the Democrats prevented the House of Representatives from their state on Monday from moving forward, at least for the moment, with a redesigned card of the Congress sought by Trump to consolidate the prospects for mid-term Republicans in 2026 while its political position vacillates.

In California, the Democrats encouraged by Governor Gavin Newsom are considering new political cards that could reduce five seats in the house held by the Republicans in the liberal state while strengthening democrats in other battlefield districts. This decision is intended to reduce GOP gains in Texas, potentially swing control of the house and give Democrats a counterweight to Trump on Capitol Hill.

A plan project aims to stimulate the democratic margin in California at 48 of the 52 seats in the congress, according to a source familiar with the plan which was not authorized to discuss it publicly. It is in place of the 43 seats that the party holds now. The approval of the legislators and voters, who could be skeptical, would be approved to give it after having re -cutting the reducing power to an independent commission years ago.

Rivalry highlights two states that for years have been due to jobs, innovation, prestige – even sports – with the context of political visions faced – a progressive, a curator.

After dozens of democrats left Texas, the house dominated by the Republicans could not establish the quorum of the legislators required to do business. Republican governor Greg Abbott threatened to withdraw members who are absent from their seats. Democrats have thwarted that Abbott uses “smoke and mirrors” to assert the legal authority that he does not have.

The Chamber quickly expressed civil arrest mandates for absent democrats and Abbott ordered the soldiers of the State to find and arrest them, but the legislators physically outside of Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of the authorities of the State.

“If you continue to take this route, there will be consequences,” said the representative of the chamber president, Dustin Burrows, in the room of the room, later saying to journalists who include fines.

The revolt of the Democrats and the threats of Abbott have intensified a fight against the Congress cards which started in Texas, but now include Democratic governors who have presented to restart their district cards in retaliation – even if their options are limited. The dispute also reflects Trump’s aggressive point of view on presidential power and its grip on the republican party nationwide, while testing the balance of long -standing powers between the federal government and the individual states.

The dead end focuses on Trump’s efforts to obtain five other seats in the GOP Congress in Texas, at the expense of the Democrats, before the middle. This would strengthen the chances of his party to preserve his fragile majority of American houses, which the Republicans could not do mid-term in 2018 during the first presidency of Trump. The Republicans currently hold 25 of the 38 seats in Texas. It is almost an advantage of 2 against 1 and already a broader partisan difference than the presidential results of 2024: Trump won 56.1% of the Texas voting bulletins, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%.

According to California’s provisional proposal, the districts now detained by republican representatives Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Doug Lamalfa would see the right -wing voters and the democratic voters stimulated in a quarter of work that would probably make a candidate on the left prevail in each race.

In the districts of the battlefield held by democratic representatives Dave Min, Mike Levin and Derek Tran, the edge of the party would be stimulated to strengthen their grip on the seats, said the source.

Democratic members of the California Congress Delegation were informed of the new card on Monday, according to a person familiar with the meeting that requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The proposal is disseminated at the same time as the Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom declared that he wanted to advance the partisan redistribution. He says he will not go ahead if Texas pauses his efforts.

Newsom said he would call a special election for the first week of November. Voters would weigh a new map of the congress drawn by the legislature controlled by Democrat.

“California will not sit lazily and will not watch this wasting democracy,” said Newsom on Monday.

More than 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) of Austin, the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, appeared with the Democrats of Texas and argued that their cause was national.

“We are not going to tolerate our stolen democracy in a robbery of modern diligence by a pile of cowboys that violated,” said Hochul on Monday. “If the Republicans are ready to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they do not give us the choice: we have to make the same. You must fight fire with fire.”

In Texas, the legislators who left the state refused to say how long they will take the blow.

“We admitted when we got on the plane that we are in the long term,” said representative Trey Martinez Fischer in Illinois.

The head of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, Gene Wu, said that the members “will do everything you need” but added: “What it looks like, we don’t know.”

Legislative disengages often delay only the adoption of a bill, as in 2021, when many Democrats left Texas for 38 days to protest the proposed voting restrictions. Once returned, the Republicans adopted this measure.

Legislators cannot adopt bills in the house of 150 members without two -thirds of the members present. The Democrats hold 62 seats in the mainly republican chamber, and at least 51 have left the state, according to a Democratic assistant.

The Supreme Court of Texas judged in 2021 that the leaders of the Chamber could “physically force the attendance” of the disappeared members, but no democrat was brought back into the state after mandates were signified. The Republicans responded by adopting daily fines of $ 500 for the legislators who do not show.

Abbott, on the other hand, continues to make unusual allegations according to which certain legislators have committed crimes by requesting money to pay potential fines for having left Texas during the session.

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Barrow reported to Atlanta. Blood reported in Los Angeles. The writers of the Associated Press Joey Cappelletti in Washington, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas and Andrew Demillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, also contributed to this report.