Looking back on Texas' history of mid-decade redistricting

A Republican-led House in Texas is pushing a mid-decade redistricting plan, with the goal of cementing Republican dominance in Congress. Democratic lawmakers staged dramatic walkouts, leaving for Oklahoma and New Mexico to deny Republicans a quorum. State troopers were dispatched to track them down.

This was not Texas in 2025; this was Texas in 2003.

Princeton University professor of history and public policy Julian Zelizer tells the story.