Texas state Rep. Gene Wu (left), pictured with former Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston), led the Democratic walkout to protest Texas’ new redistricting map (Photo courtesy of Gene Wu).
The University of Texas has a saying that what happens there changes the world.
Texans can say the same thing about politics because what happens in the “Lone Star State” has changed American politics heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
On Aug. 14, Houston Community Media, a chapter of American Community Media, hosted a media briefing dedicated to addressing new Texas congressional maps and the Democratic state legislators’ decision to break quorum to postpone those maps, which would help Republicans and President Donald Trump hold on to power next year.
Sandy Close moderated the media briefing.
Since the media briefing, Democratic lawmakers have returned to Austin, Texas and the new congressional maps are headed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for signing.
However, the brief walkout was more than just a performative act.
Texas state Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) said that the walkout was designed to allow more people time to speak out against redistricting.
Furthermore, it gave other states like California the opportunity to propose their own new congressional maps, which would favor Democrats.
Wu wasted no time speaking out against the new maps during his portion of the media briefing on Aug. 14.
The lawmaker and attorney said that the new maps would affect cities like Houston, Dallas, Austin, Texas and portions of San Antonio.
Furthermore, two competitive districts in the Rio Grande Valley will now lean more towards the Republicans.
Additionally, Wu said that the new districts would dilute the Black and Brown vote because many minorities vote heavily Democratic.
Bluntly, Wu said that President Trump and Republicans are attempting to cheat heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
He said that the rules of the game should not be changed midway through the game.
Wu said that Republicans are fully aware that their political agenda is unpopular.
He said that Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will not only hurt Americans in big liberal cities but will also hurt people in smaller rural communities like farmers.
Typically, districts are redrawn every 10 years after the Census.
Wu said that Texas already had the most gerrymandered maps in the United States, and that the 2021 maps are still being adjudicated in the courts.
Therefore, he believes that there is no need for new maps in 2025 when judges are still putting their imprints on the maps from four years ago.
While the law does allow for gerrymandering to advance a particular political party, it does not allow racial gerrymandering.
The problem with that situation is the fact that minorities still vote heavily Democratic.
Therefore, it is hard to gerrymander politically without doing so racially.
While many people look at Texas Democratic lawmakers as just grandstanding and doing things to benefit their party, Wu said that they walked out not to benefit Democrats, but to fight for American democracy.
Many argue that democracy is not at risk due to redistricting. Wu said that if communities lack leaders who care about their concerns, their votes won’t count because lawmakers will know they don’t have to answer to certain constituents.
And if political leaders know that they can just change the rules in the middle of the game to remain in power, they will no longer have to rely on the will of the people.
Therefore, the walkout was designed to give Democratic leaders in blue states the opportunity to create trigger laws that would only go into effect once Gov. Abbott signs the new Texas maps into law.
Like many other Democrats and media personalities have stated for years, Wu said Democrats must learn to fight fire with fire because gone are the days of nice-person and civil politics.
And although Texas GOP leaders tried to punish politicians like Wu with fines, bomb threats, racial slurs and threats to denaturalize him, the lawmaker has received praise for leading a movement that will forever change the 2026 midterm election and how Democrats engage with the Trump administration.
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom has seen his star rise in the last couple of weeks as he engineered new maps that will appear on his state’s ballot in November.
Gov. Newsom has also taken to social media to meet Trump on his own level, satirizing past Trump posts and possibly becoming the national star the Democrats desperately need to fight the Make America Great Again movement in 2028.
His tweets have seemed to upset conservative television networks like Fox News.
However, those same cable television networks appear to like it when Trump says something controversial on social media.
Lorraine Ali of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Fox News has never been bothered by the Trumpian approach to social media, with its all-caps posts and multiple exclamation points. It’s self-aggrandizing. It’s mean-girl-name-calling. But this week, the MAGA network’s hosts were triggered…
“So why the sudden dismay and hurt feelings? Because the taunts and boasts are coming from a Democrat, and not just any lefty but King Snowflake himself, California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Adopting Trump’s low-bar social media tactics, the X account of Newsom’s press office has spent recent weeks mimicking the president’s social media style to troll the trollers.”
And now, Newsom, Wu and other Democrats are mimicking Trump and the GOP’s form of government, finally finding a 2025 way to attack a 2025 politician because the politics of the past seem like a distant memory.
- Movie Review: ‘731’ Another Film That is a Warning - September 26, 2025
