Texas Democrats meet with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham amid redistricting fight

SANTA FE — Unlike the many Texans who flock to New Mexico’s capital city for summer art markets and carne adovada, a group of Democrats from the Lone Star State came to Santa Fe on Tuesday for business reasons.

A delegation of seven Texas House Democrats met with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for more than an hour amid a redistricting fight that’s drawn national headlines.

After emerging from the closed-door meeting, the Democrats said they’re trying to build alliances with high-profile “friends” around the nation who support their cause.

“This is a national problem and we’re here to sound the alarm that it may start in Texas, but it’s not going to end there,” said Texas House Speaker Pro Tempore Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat.

He and other Texas Democrats also acknowledged the possibility they could leave the state to deny Republicans a quorum and, at least temporarily, block a vote on a new congressional map.

Such a move has precedent, as Texas Democrats also staged walkouts in 2003 and 2021 to delay votes on legislation they staunchly opposed.

“The way we’ve talked about it among Democrats in the Texas House is we have all options on the table — all tools in the toolbelt,” Moody said during a news conference in the state Capitol rotunda.

While redistricting is typically done once per decade based on population shifts, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott added the redrawing of Texas’ congressional districts to the agenda of a special session that started July 21 at the Trump administration’s urging.

The special session was initially called by Abbott to focus on disaster relief efforts following the deadly flash flooding in Texas Hill Country earlier this month.

With Republicans holding a comfortable majority in both legislative chambers in Texas, Democrats have limited options when it comes to trying to block the redistricting proposal.

Meanwhile, the Tuesday sit-down with Lujan Grisham took place after Texas Democrats held similar meetings in recent days with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Additional visits to other states could also take place in the coming days, members of the Texas delegation said.

Lujan Grisham did not attend the news conference alongside the Texas Democrats, but said in a statement she supports their efforts.

“After meeting with Texas lawmakers today, I share their concerns about redistricting and the assault on fair representation,” the governor said. “These dedicated state legislators are understandably doing everything possible to remind states everywhere that this isn’t how democracy is supposed to work.”

Lujan Grisham is also considering calling a special session later this year, but such a session would likely focus on issues like juvenile violence and the state’s response to a congressional budget bill, not redistricting.

The governor said Tuesday it would not “shock” her if New Mexico Republicans were to push for mid-decade redistricting, but said she would oppose such an effort.

New Mexico currently has an all-Democratic congressional delegation, under a congressional map that was redrawn by legislators in December 2021. The state Republican Party filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new districts in 2022, but a judge ultimately upheld the map’s legality.

State GOP chairwoman Amy Barela cited that backdrop Tuesday, while alluding to recent social media posts by U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., that allege Republicans are trying to gerrymander districts in advance of the 2026 election cycle.

“Now, they are in fear of losing control and have gone so far as to label it cheating,” Barela said, referring to Democrats.

The Texas Democrats’ quick trip to New Mexico — they arrived in Santa Fe on Tuesday morning and were slated to leave in the afternoon — left little time for socializing, though the delegation did enjoy some New Mexican food at a downtown Santa Fe restaurant.

Before returning to Texas, the Democrats cautioned that Republicans’ attempt to redraw the state’s congressional map could backfire and lead to some GOP incumbents being ousted.

“If anyone thinks this starts and ends in Texas, you’re fooling yourselves,” said Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, who is the House Redistricting Committee’s vice chairman.