ABBOTT’S BETRAYAL OF TEXANS MEETS ITS END IN CALIFORNIA
Prop 50’s overwhelming adoption completes the mission Texas House Democrats began with historic quorum break, nullifies Abbott’s submission to Trump
**AUSTIN, TEXAS **— Last night, California voters rendered a decisive verdict: Greg Abbott lost. Donald Trump lost. And the Texas House Democrats who broke quorum this summer to fight their power grab won an extraordinary and unlikely victory.
With Prop 50’s passage, California will redraw its congressional maps to offset the five Republican-gerrymandered seats Abbott and Trump stole in Texas, completing the mission Texas House Democrats started when they left the state in August to deny quorum, blocking the corrupt special session. What began as a fight in Austin and Chicago sparked a nationwide uprising that continues to fundamentally reshape the national landscape in 2026 and beyond.
“Greg Abbott wanted to be Donald Trump’s Texas enforcer. Instead, he became the cautionary tale of what happens when you betray your own state to please D.C. politicians,” said Texas House of Representatives Minority Leader Rep. Gene Wu. “The governor delayed relief for victims of the July 4th flooding in Kerr County, weaponized law enforcement against us, filed frivolous lawsuits to intimidate us, and still lost. Last night, California proved that when you stand up to corrupt politicians, you don’t stand alone; we stood with and inspired millions of Americans to join the fight.”
Before Texas House Democrats fled to Illinois to deny Abbott quorum, California Governor Gavin Newsom met with caucus members and promised to “fight fire with fire — in the courts, in the legislature, and at the ballot box,” an effort which eventually became Prop 50, the Election Rigging Response Act. Other Democratic leaders joined the charge: Gov. Pritzker of Illinois welcomed and protected House Democrats in his state, Gov. Hochul of New York declared “we are at war” and began exploring her state’s redistricting options, and Democratic leaders in Maryland and Virginia have followed suit with concrete plans to neutralize Trump’s attempted power grab.
Abbott’s humiliation is total. He called a special session to engineer an unfair majority in the House of Representatives for Donald Trump. Instead, House Democrats defeated his special session, and now, California has completely neutralized his scheme. The Governor who promised Trump everything has delivered him nothing.
The fight isn’t over. Democrats continue their legal challenge to Abbott’s racist maps in federal court, and have committed to continuing the fight for fair representation for all Texans. But last night, California voters gave Texas House Democrats the ultimate vindication: proof that their courage sparked a movement that Trump and Abbott can never defeat.