Texas’ plan for a rare mid-decade congressional remap stalled again on 8 Aug when the state House failed for the third time this week to reach a quorum. More than 50 Democratic legislators remain outside the state, blocking a Republican proposal that analysts say could deliver up to five additional U.S. House seats to the GOP ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republican officials escalated pressure on the absent lawmakers. Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court to declare 13 Democratic seats vacant, arguing the members had ‘abandoned’ their offices. Separately, Tarrant County Judge Megan Fahey granted Paxton a two-week temporary restraining order that bars former Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s Powered by People PAC from financing the Democrats’ travel, lodging or daily expenses; a hearing is set for 19 Aug. Paxton also opened an investigation into the Soros-backed Texas Majority PAC for possible bribery. Governor Greg Abbott has issued civil arrest warrants, imposed $500-a-day fines on the fugitives and pledged back-to-back 30-day special sessions until the map is adopted. U.S. Senator John Cornyn, who is vying with Paxton in next year’s Republican primary, said he enlisted FBI Director Kash Patel to help locate the lawmakers, underscoring fractures within the state’s GOP leadership. Democratic governors are responding in kind. California’s Gavin Newsom hosted the Texas delegation in Sacramento and said his state ‘will nullify’ any partisan advantage Texas gains, while officials in Illinois, New York and other Democratic-led states weigh their own mid-cycle redraws. With more than a dozen states now reviewing their maps, the Texas impasse has widened into a national redistricting arms race that could reshape control of Congress in 2027.