**AUSTIN, TEXAS — **On Monday, Governor Greg Abbott called Texas lawmakers back to the state capitol for a special session on, among other issues, flood relief and mid-decade redistricting. In multiple interviews this week, Gov. Abbott has shown his hand, telling reporters that adding flood relief to the special session agenda should prevent Democratic maneuvering against his attempts to rig the 2026 election.
Texas House Democrats stand firm in our refusal to work on any other issues on the call until meaningful flood reform and relief is on the governor’s desk for signature. If flood relief and preparedness are as important to the governor as he says, he will authorize an emergency transfer of state funds or take this racial gerrymander off the special session agenda until emergency preparedness response reforms are passed.
**SHOT: Governor Abbott reveals that he’s using the tragedy as a tool to prevent a session-stopping quorum break on mid-decade redistricting. **
Source: Cameron Abrams interview with Gov. Abbott in The Texan (July 22, 2025)
Source: interview with Spectrum News’ Erin Davis
CHASER: Republican leadership holds SEVEN redistricting hearings before any public testimony is taken from flood survivors and grieving families.
Immediately after the start of the 2025 special legislative session on July 21, Republican leadership announced a series of seven hearings on redistricting–despite denying the public the chance to see the White House’s proposed maps before they testify. Those hearings are also time-limited, giving a state of 31 million people only five hours per hearing to share their thoughts on this extremely consequential issue. Worst of all, these hearings will be held before any public testimony is taken on the catastrophic July 4 floods in the Hill Country and Central Texas.
“Governor Abbott is openly using grieving communities as leverage to back Democrats into a corner on Trump’s election rigging scheme. If the governor truly cared about providing relief, he would authorize an emergency transfer of funds, as he has done so many times before. If he truly wanted strong emergency response policy reforms, he would take redistricting off the call and let us give our undivided attention to flood relief,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Wu. “Instead, Republicans have chosen to hold seven—seven—redistricting hearings before a single minute of public testimony is taken from flood victims and their families. That’s how you know that flood relief is not their top priority for this special session. The communities disproportionately impacted by the flooding are just like the people these new maps will disenfranchise. As long as he gets to stay on Trump’s good side, Governor Abbott doesn’t care about the cost.”