The Republican-controlled Texas Senate approved a new congressional redistricting plan on Aug. 12, voting 19–2 along party lines after nine of the chamber’s 11 Democrats departed in protest. The map is drawn to generate as many as five additional Republican seats in the U.S. House ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and now moves to the Texas House, which remains stalled by a Democratic walkout that began on Aug. 4. Governor Greg Abbott said he will keep calling special sessions until the measure reaches his desk. The first 30-day session expired on Aug. 15, prompting Abbott to immediately convene a second session with redistricting atop the agenda. Some House Democrats have signaled they may return to Austin, citing a desire to contest the plan on the floor and in court once California advances its own map. Within hours of the Texas impasse, California’s Citizen Redistricting Commission released a draft congressional map that Democratic leaders say could cost Republicans up to five seats—mirroring the gains sought by Texas Republicans. The Democratic-controlled Legislature has until Aug. 22 to finalize the proposal and is considering a Nov. 4 statewide vote to ratify the changes, underscoring how the two largest U.S. states have become central battlegrounds in the fight for control of the House.