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Backlash as Texas Approves 'Unconstitutional' Mandatory Bible Lessons in Public Schools
“That’s government-sponsored religious favoritism—and the First Amendment strictly forbids it," said one critic.
Jun 26, 2026
As education officials in Texas ban hundreds of books that run afoul of their interpretation of Christian morality, the State Board of Education on Friday approved a required reading list that forces the state's more than 5 million public school students to read from the Bible.
The Republican-controlled SBOE voted 9-5 with one abstention to approve the list, which includes passages from the Book of Exodus as well as the Shepherd's Psalm and the myths of Adam and Eve and David and Goliath.
"We’re going to stop watering down American history. We’re going to teach the truth. Our nation was founded as a Christian nation, and Texas is a Christian state,” Republican board member Brandon Hall—who is also a youth pastor at Cavalry Baptist Church in Springtown—said during a Thursday press conference in Austin.
That "truth" omits or marginalizes climate change, US imperialism, women's history, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, slavery, and racism.
Evelyn Brooks, the only Republican SBOE member to vote against the required reading list, told CNN on Friday that she believes the board's move is "unconstitutional."
“Teachers need to have their autonomy," she said. "They’ve been selecting books for decades."
In 2023, Texas' Republican-controlled Legislature passed HB 1605, which mandated the creation of a K-12 required reading list and directed the Texas Education Agency to develop state-owned textbooks. Those texts, called Bluebonnet Learning, contain lessons on Christianity starting in kindergarten. The SBOE approved Bluebonnet Learning as an optional curriculum in late 2024 and is currently working to correct thousands of errors in the curriculum at a cost of over $8 million to Texas taxpayers.
The SBOE action comes amid a legal battle over SB 10, a law signed last year by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that requires public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. US District Judge Fred Biery, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, subsequently issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law. Texas families also sued to block the legislation. However, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who is running for US Senate—demanded that schools comply with the law.
Public schools "exist to educate students with diverse faith backgrounds, as well as those who adhere to no faith doctrine," the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) said Friday. "Public schools are not Sunday schools, and elected officials have no business using state power to elevate one religion above all others. A required reading list that overwhelmingly favors Christian texts while excluding the writings and literary traditions of other faiths, not to mention the perspectives of millions of nonreligious Americans, sends an unmistakable message about who belongs and who does not."
FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor asserted that “a mandatory public school reading list should never function as a Bible lesson."
"Texas is telling millions of children that one religion deserves the government’s seal of approval, while everyone else is an afterthought," she added. "That’s government-sponsored religious favoritism—and the First Amendment strictly forbids it.”
Rabbi Joshua Fixler at Congregation Emanu El in Houston told CNN Friday that "this list is full of Christian texts that are inappropriate for public school classrooms."
"As a rabbi and a parent of Jewish kids, I think it is vital that this board make a distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion," he added. "This list will force teachers to cross that line."
Fort Worth high school teacher Chanea Bond told The Associated Press on Friday that the SBOE's required reading list is "very old and very white."
“It is very narrow and does not represent what classrooms in Texas look like,” she said. “Going through most of high school without ever having much value put into voices that sound like yours kind of sends a message that your voices aren’t valuable.”
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Despite Delay, Texas Republicans Push Proposal Forcing Students to Read Bible in School
“Religious readings belong in Sunday school, not in public schools," said one parent opposed to the proposal.
Feb 03, 2026
Less than six months after a federal judge enjoined a Texas law mandating display of the "allegedly Protestant version of the Ten Commandments" in public schools, Republican lawmakers in the Lone Star State are pushing legislation to force children to read the Bible in classrooms.
Last week, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted 13-1 to delay voting on a proposed list of mandatory reading for all K-12 public school students until April in order to provide more time for feedback and thousands of corrections to a Bible-infused elementary school curriculum approved two years ago.
"This would bring the Word of God back into schools in a meaningful way for the first time in decades," SBOE member and Christian pastor Brandon Hall said last week in support of the forced Bible reading proposal.
However, as Texas parent Kevin Jackson—who spoke against the proposed list at a public hearing last week—put it, “Religious readings belong in Sunday school, not in public schools."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based advocacy group, said Tuesday on social media that "mandating Bible readings in public schools isn’t 'education,' it’s state-sponsored religious exercise."
"Public schools are for everyone," FFRF added. "Government has no business promoting or imposing religion on students. Church–state separation protects all Texans."
Carisa Lopez, deputy director of the Texas Freedom Network—a civil liberties and religious freedom group—said Friday that the proposal "enforces a one-size-fits-all approach in one of the largest and most diverse states in the nation."
“This kind of state micromanagement tosses aside local control and makes it harder or even impossible for teachers to tailor instruction in ways that are appropriate for their students," Lopez added. "Even worse is that this list represents another step by the state toward turning public schools into Sunday schools that undermine the right of parents to direct the religious education of their own children.”
Rabbi David Segal, policy counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, noted that “the proposed reading list relies heavily on Protestant Christian translations and leaves out other faith traditions."
“Public schools have a duty to prepare students to participate in civic life, not to advance a particular religious viewpoint," Segal stressed. "Teaching about religion has always been appropriate in public education, but what we are seeing here verges on state-sanctioned religious instruction."
The mandatory reading list also contains texts that conservative SBOE members say represent "foundational" literature that all students should know. However, some Democratic board members object to what they say is the list's lack of racial and gender diversity.
“This list does not represent the students of Texas,” Democratic SBOE member Tiffany Clark told Education Week. “For so many years, students of color have had to endure a European-centered philosophy, history, without representation of their own history being recognized. That is exactly what we see continuing to happen with this list.”
The proposed reading list follows the SBOE's 2024 approval of Bluebonnet Learning, a Bible-infused curriculum for elementary public school students that critics say violates the US Constitution's establishment clause.
Last year, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott—a devout Catholic—signed SB 10, which forces display of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms. This, despite an earlier ruling from a federal judge, who found that a similar law in Louisiana was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
In an extraordinarily pointed ruling last August, US District Judge for the Western District of Texas Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction blocking parts of SB 10.
"Imagine the consternation and legal firestorm were the following fictional story to become reality," Biery wrote. "Hamtramck, Michigan: Being a majority Muslim community, the Hamtramck City Council and school board have decreed that, beginning September 1, 2025, the following teachings of the Quran, Surah Al-An’am 6:151 and Surah Al-Isra 17:23, shall be posted in all public buildings and public schools."
"While 'We the people' rule by a majority, the Bill of Rights protects the minority Christians in Hamtramck and those 33% of Texans who do not adhere to any of the Christian denominations," he added.
I don’t know who this man is but protect him at all costs!! He finally broke it down. So much she had no come back! See the God yall worshipping is yourself and your opinions!! I love how he use the word, the one she claims to know in his argument! Sadly they still won’t get it.… pic.twitter.com/KHqrVf5SHC
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) January 23, 2024
If the new reading list mandate is approved in April as anticipated, Texas will become the first state in the nation to force every student in the state to read the Bible. Former Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters—a Republican and Christian nationalist—mandated that all public school districts incorporate the Bible—and specifically the Ten Commandments—into their curricula for grades 5-12.
It would start with a mandate to read material including "The Golden Rule” in kindergarten, "The Parable of the Prodigal Son” in first grade, and "The Road to Damascus" in third grade.
As Hemant Mehta wrote for his Friendly Atheist blog :
The readings get more specific as students get older. Seventh graders would have to read "The Shepherd's Psalm (Book of Psalms, Chapter 23)” from the Old Testament along with “The Definition of Love” from 1 Corinthians 13. High schoolers would be reading Genesis 11:1-9 about the Tower of Babel, Lamentations 3, and the story of David and Goliath as told in 1 Samuel 17.
"What makes this proposal so damning is that Christianity is the only religious book included in the required readings, and even the more secular stories are infused with more direct religious messages," Mehta wrote on Saturday. "That’s on top of the state-sanctioned curriculum itself, which is already Bible-heavy."
"The Texas Board of Education is shoving explicitly Christian narratives into a mandatory, state-sanctioned reading list and pretending it’s objective when it comes to religion," Mehta added. "They want to privilege one (and only one) religion at the expense of all others, treating biblical stories as if they’re foundational truths and the default moral framework for everyone, regardless of their families’ beliefs."
There is an alternative proposal by Republican SBOE member Will Hickman that would increase the number of more contemporary works like The Hunger Games and Ender's Game and swap biblical texts with Judeo-Christian mythology such as the story of Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark "without any Bible thumping involved," as Mehta put it.
"That might be fine! But that’s clearly not what most Republicans are aiming for," he wrote. "They don’t care if kids are culturally literate regarding the Bible; they just want those kids to accept the Bible as true."
As if on cue, the Wiley Independent School District on Tuesday issued a statement announcing an investigation into what it called the "unauthorized distribution of religious materials" on the campus of Wylie East High School. While the announcement does not specify the religion in question, Marco Hunter-Lopez, who leads the school's Republican student club, said it was Islam.
🚨 Islamic Outreach Booth Sparks Parent Concerns at Wylie East High School 🚨
Wylie, Texas — Parents and community members are raising concerns after an Islamic outreach organization set up an informational booth on the campus of Wylie East High School during the school day this… pic.twitter.com/cNpq1aPfQf
— Texan Report (@TexanReport) February 3, 2026
At the national level, President Donald Trump and his administration have pledged to "protect" prayer in public schools.
“To have a great nation, you have to have religion," the thrice-married adulterer, serial liar, and purveyor of $1,000 branded Bibles said last year. "I will always defend our glorious heritage, and we will protect the Judeo-Christian principles of our founding.”
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Israel's Supporters Are Using Islamophobia to Distract From Genocide; Don't Fall For It
Every American should recognize these increasingly unhinged attacks for what they are: Cynical attempts to protect Israel from criticism by frightening the American public.
Oct 04, 2025
Sharia law is taking over America, from Dearborn to New York City. So is the Muslim Brotherhood. And they are doing so with help from the communist left.
These claims should sound familiar to anyone who has kept track of the rhetoric coming from the Israeli government's supporters over the past few months. From politicians like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) to keyboard warriors like Laura Loomer and Eyal Yakoby, some of Israel's biggest cheerleaders keep finding new ways to manufacture hysteria about Islam and Muslims.
What's behind this sudden and seemingly coordinated attempt to resurrect conspiracy theories about Muslims that were debunked years ago?
It’s certainly not because anyone truly believes that 6 million Americans are trying to somehow impose Islamic law on 300 million Americans. The real reason is simple: Gaza.
The real threat to our nation is not Muslims in Dearborn or Dallas—it’s corrupt politicians who put Israel first, waste taxpayer dollars on genocide, and try to distract Americans with lies and fear.
DropSite News recently revealed that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is conducting a global survey of the United States and European nations to gauge Western attitudes towards Israel.
The preliminary results show widespread opposition to the Israeli government because of its genocide in Gaza. But the results also show that support for Israel rebounded by 20 points when the pollster stoked fears of “Radical Islam” and “Jihadism.”
Cue the sudden surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric across the pro-Israel ecosphere.
To be clear, this strategy is nothing new.
For years, pro-Israel foundations played a major role in funding anti-Muslim hate groups like ACT for America, the Middle East Forum, and the Investigative Project on Terrorism, all of which are also led by anti-Palestinian extremists.
These groups and their funders have long feared the American Muslim community’s growing population, increased political activism, and consistent support for Palestinian human rights.
Because a thriving and politically impactful American Muslim community might one day reorient US foreign policy on Israel in a more just direction, American Muslims had to be smeared and silenced.
History is now repeating itself amid the Gaza genocide.
Texas Gov. Abbott just responded to manufactured controversy about a Muslim-led real estate project by signing a law that supposedly "bans sharia" (it doesn't) and Rep. Fine has introduced a bill to ban sharia across the country (it won't). Their political stunts replicate an unconstitutional attempt to ban sharia that swept through red states in the early 2010s.
Although anti-sharia hysteria eventually fizzled out, its proponents never gave up their other goal: painting American Muslims and their institutions as puppets of foreign boogeymen.
Israel's supporters in Congress have spent years pushing to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group so that the government can then use that designation to launch witch hunts into American Muslim groups falsely accused of being tied to the Egyptian organization.
The first bill that attempted to do so was introduced in 2014 by pro-Israel hawk former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) with the backing of Frank Gaffney, who is also the founder of pro-Israel (and anti-Muslim) Center for Security Policy. The bill failed. The same fate befell other versions of the legislation pushed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who reintroduced his latest “modernized” bill in 2025.
In recent weeks, Laura Loomer has been using her apparent influence over the Trump administration to demand that the State Department unilaterally designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
So has Eyal Yakoby, an Israeli-American college student who has become one of the Gaza genocide's most prolific defenders on social media. Between September 21 and 29, Yakoby has posted "Ban the Muslim Brotherhood!" at least 12 different times.
Nearly every other post in Yakoby's Twitter feed also hypes the supposed global threat of Muslims, from Dearborn to the United Kingdom to Nigeria. Yakoby even earned a community note for falsely blaming seasonal wildfires in Syria on Muslims "lighting Christian villages" on fire.
Another prominent pro-Israel figure pushing such hysteria is Amy Mekelburg, who has manufactured several controversies about the imaginary threat of sharia law taking over Texas, of all places.
Another odd talking point Israel's supporters have pushed in recent months is the claim that American conservatives critical of Israel, like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, have been bribed by—you guessed it—Muslims.
Every American should recognize these increasingly unhinged attacks for what they are: Cynical attempts to protect Israel from criticism by frightening the American public, keeping political conservatives in line, and silencing American Muslims.
The real threat to our nation is not Muslims in Dearborn or Dallas—it’s corrupt politicians who put Israel first, waste taxpayer dollars on genocide, and try to distract Americans with lies and fear.
They've done it before, and now they're doing it again. No one should fall for it this time.
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'Pay-to-Play'? Donors to Texas Gov's PAC Have Received Nearly $1 Billion in No-Bid State Contracts
“Insider dealing undermines confidence in state government," said one advocate. "People conclude that the government works for wealthy people first and everyday Texans second."
Sep 24, 2025
A new report on no-bid contracts awarded in Texas to corporations after they donated to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's political action committee exemplifies why many people "lose faith in their government," said one advocate at the watchdog group Public Citizen on Wednesday.
The organization released a report, Awarding Influence, on no-bid contracts that were awarded by Abbott from 2020-24 after he declared state emergencies over border security, Hurricane Beryl, and the coronavirus pandemic.
Donors to Abbott's political action committee, Texans for Greg Abbott PAC, received approximately $950 million in at least 89 state contracts during those emergencies. The companies—including through their subsidiaries, PACs, executives, and executives' spouses—donated a collective $2.9 million to Abbott in 96 contributions between 2014-25.
"The timing of the contributions is suspect,” said Andrew Cates, an attorney and government ethics expert. “The groups were awarded the contracts after they made large contributions to the governor or his [super PAC]. If it were the other way around, it could be viewed as a thank-you contribution, but this way feels much more pay-to-play when procurement money flows quickly after large contributions."
Cates said one particular donor, Doggett Equipment Services Group, drew the scrutiny of Public Citizen due to $1.6 million it was awarded in no-bid state contracts that were simply labeled "fees."
The company provides services to the heavy equipment industry across Texas and it CEO, William "Leslie" Doggett, has contributed more than $1.7 million to Texans for Greg Abbott since 2014, either personally or through his corporation.
One of Doggett's companies, Doggett Freightliners of South Texas, received two noncompetitive contracts—identified only as "fees" on paperwork—worth $1.6 million in 2022 and 2023. One of the contracts was finalized eight days after Doggett donated $500,000 to the PAC.
Cates said the Doggett contracts were "especially egregious."
Doggett's apparent transaction with Abbott's PAC did not make his company the largest recipient of no-bid contracts detailed in the report; that distinction goes to Gothams LLC, an emergency management company that received nearly $640 million in contracts in 2021 and 2022.
After pandemic contracts began to slow in 2022, Gothams received just one contract worth $43 million—but after its founder, Matthew Michelsen, started sending donations to Texans for Greg Abbott that totaled $600,000, the firm received 10 contracts worth $66 million.
"People lose faith in their government when they see a system that appears to benefit those who can buy access to elected officials,” said Adrian Shelley, the Texas director of Public Citizen. “Even when no laws are broken, insider dealing undermines confidence in state government. People conclude that the government works for wealthy people first and everyday Texans second."
In another example from the report, infrastructure development firm HNTB Holdings received an emergency contract worth $2.6 million in 2021 to provide software updates. Since 2015, the company, its PAC, and its senior officials have contributed $193,750 to Texans for Greg Abbott
“All of the companies identified in this report, either through corporate PACs or individuals affiliated with the company, contributed significant amounts to Texans for Greg Abbott," said Cassidy Levin, a research fellow at Public Citizen. "Lawmakers should adopt stronger restrictions on pay-to-play practices in government contracting and implement reporting requirements for the governor’s office in the aftermath of an emergency.”
The group called on Texas officials to make changes to the state's contract procurement rules, including by:
- Banning no-bid contract awards to companies whose PACs, officers, or families of officers have made political donations above a given threshold within the last election cycle;
- Barring recipients of no-bid contracts from making contributions above a given threshold for a given period of time;
- Establishing a more thorough and transparent reporting process of the awarding of no-bid contracts after disaster and emergency declarations; and
- Imposing penalties for noncompliance, including contract forfeiture.
The report acknowledges that "disaster response includes the rapid deployment of resources to areas of need" and that "the speed involved may make normal contract bid and award procedures impossible."
However, reads the conclusion, "ethics laws should be sufficient to eliminate conflict and the appearance of conflict in government decision-making."
Shelley added that "there are simple safeguards that lawmakers could implement to avoid apparent conflicts of interest while still allowing the state to respond quickly to emergencies.”
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As Abbott Signs Texas Map Rigged for Trump, Missouri GOP Aims to Follow Suit
One critic said Texas Republicans' "reckless, partisan power grab will harm our democracy for years to come."
Aug 29, 2025
Democracy defenders on Friday blasted elected Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, after he signed a new congressional map gerrymandered for the GOP at the request of US President Donald Trump—and Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, for launching a copycat effort.
"Gov. Abbott would rather do Trump's dirty work than help the people of Texas," said Brett Edkins, managing director of policy and political affairs at the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, in a statement.
"For months, he has ignored the real issues affecting Texans, including flood relief, and instead pandered to Trump's demand that he redraw Texas' political maps to rig the 2026 elections and silence communities of color," he continued. "Texas Republicans have started a nationwide redistricting arms race with no end in sight. Their reckless, partisan power grab will harm our democracy for years to come."
Abbott and state lawmakers have been open about aiming to help the GOP retain control of Congress during next year's midterm elections by passing their so-called "One Big Beautiful Map." The governor—who called two special legislative sessions to force through the bill—posted a video of himself signing it on social media and declared that "Texas will be more RED in Congress."
During the first legislative session, dozens of Democrats in the Texas House fled to blue states in a bid to block the map, but they ultimately returned to Austin. After GOP legislators passed the bill, the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a lawsuit over the map.
After the governor signed the bill on Friday, Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said in a statement that "with a stroke of the pen, Greg Abbott and the Republicans have effectively surrendered Texas to Washington, DC."
"They love to boast about how 'Texas Tough' they are, but when Donald Trump made one call, they bent over backwards to prioritize his politics over Texans. Honestly, it's pathetic," he said. "I am proud of the Texas Democrats in the House and Senate who chose to fight, whether by a constitutionally protected quorum break, questioning these mapmakers, trying to pass amendments, or even attempting to filibuster."
"This isn't over—we'll see these clowns in court," he pledged. "We aren't done fighting against these racially discriminatory maps, and fully expect the letter of the law to prevail over these sycophantic Republican politicians who think the rules don't apply to them."
The contested map makes five Texas districts for the US House of Representatives that are currently held by Democrats more favorable to Republicans.
While elected Democrats in states such as California have threatened to fight fire with fire and draw Republican congressional districts out of existence, GOP governors—under pressure from the president—have also moved to follow Texas' lead. For example, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Friday announced a special legislative session to pass his proposed "Missouri First Map."
Responding in a statement, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said that "another Republican governor just caved to the demands of Donald Trump at the expense of Missouri families and American democracy. Time and time again, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has undermined the voice of Missouri voters."
"Now he is attempting to dilute their power altogether by removing the ability of Missourians to stand up against this power grab," Martin continued. "Make no mistake: This all started because Trump and Republicans passed a historically unpopular budget bill that wrecks the working class to reward billionaires. Now, instead of facing the consequences of their votes, Republicans think they can just choose their voters—that's not how this works."
"As California has shown, Democrats are rising up to protect voters' sacred rights, and we're not pulling our punches," he added. "The DNC will stand with Democrats protecting the rights of all Americans as Donald Trump and spineless Republicans try to rig the game against the will of the people."
John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said that "over the past month, Missourians of all stripes, from proud union members to business leaders, have expressed their opposition to a mid-decade gerrymander, yet Missouri Republicans are choosing to take orders from Washington instead of their constituents."
"Republicans enacted the current congressional map in response to public pressure from Missouri voters," he said. "Their sudden reversal shows that their pursuit of a mid-decade gerrymander is nothing more than a power grab at the expense of the people. Heading into this special session, Missouri Republicans have a choice: They can listen to Missourians, who oppose a mid-decade gerrymander, or they can fold to Donald Trump's demands and face the same level of fierce resistance displayed in Texas."
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Trump’s Desperate, Anti-Democratic Quest to Retain Power
Trump and his allies, selecting the voters likely to cast ballots for them is far better than letting all voters select their leaders.
Aug 19, 2025
US President Donald Trump and Republicans face a daunting challenge: How to preserve power in the wake of their wildly unpopular policies?
Their strategy is to intensify the GOP’s decades-long quest to limit voter participation. Selecting the voters likely to cast ballots for them is far better than letting all voters select their leaders.
Trump has taken the strategy to a whole new level. And he’s doing it out of fear and desperation.
Fighting History
During midterm elections, the president’s party loses seats in Congress. In Trump’s first term, Republicans lost 40 seats in the House in 2018. In 2010, President Barack Obama’s Democrats lost 63.
The exceptions are few and far between. In the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush’s GOP gained eight House seats in 2002, but then lost 30 in 2006. In 1998, President Bill Clinton’s Democrats gained five seats, but that didn’t offset the 52 seats that they had lost in 1994. In all but three midterm elections from 1934 to 1994—from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton—the president’s party lost House seats. It did a little better in the Senate, gaining seats in only 6 of 23 midterm elections since 1934.
With Republicans holding a slim 219-212 majority heading into the 2026 midterms, Trump has every reason to panic at what awaits him in 15 months.
Fighting Democracy
Every 10 years, the Commerce Department conducts a census of the entire country. US census data is then used to apportion federal funding and representation in the House, as well as each state’s Electoral College votes. It’s also used by businesses, researchers, and community planners.
The next national redistricting will occur after the 2030 census. But Trump persuaded Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session that would redraw congressional districts five years early to give Republicans five additional seats in Congress now.
According to the Texas Tribune, a majority of the Texas congressional delegation was wary of the idea, fearing that redistricting might spread their voters too thinly:
In discussions with Abbott’s office, White House staffers attempted to assuage his worries but were unsuccessful, according to two people with direct knowledge of the developments.
Enter Trump:
Then, Trump placed a call to Abbott during which they discussed redistricting. The governor subsequently agreed to put it on his agenda for the special session, according to two people who spoke with White House officials about the call, one of whom also discussed the matter with Abbott’s office.
Trump’s allies are now pushing other state governors to squeeze away Democratic seats in Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, and Missouri. In a 21st-century version of the Civil War, some Democratic governors in blue states are contemplating a response in kind.
Fighting Voters
Likewise, winning is easier for Republicans if they can systematically prevent likely Democratic voters from casting ballots at all. Trump is working that angle too. In March, he issued an executive order aimed at overhauling the nation’s voting system to favor the GOP. It takes direct aim at the US Constitution’s Elections Clause, which provides:
The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing [sic] Senators.
Five court cases challenging Trump’s order, which would prevent counting mail-in ballots received after election day and impose new voter registration requirements, are pending.
Fighting Progress
In his latest attack, Trump is railing against a problem that doesn’t exist: fraudulent votes. On August 18, he vowed to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines. On Truth Social he posted: “THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!!”
In a press conference later that day, he added more lies:
Mail-in ballots are corrupt… You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots. And we as a Republican Party are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots. We’re going to start with an executive order that’s being written by the best lawyers in the country to end mail-in ballots because they’re corrupt.
Trump’s source for his false claims: Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that Putin had agreed with him that the 2020 election had been rigged in favor of President Joe Biden: “He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Trump quoted Putin as saying. “He said, ‘Mail-in voting, every election.’ He said, ‘No country has mail-in voting. It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.’”
There is no evidence that mail-in voting is corrupt. Thirty-four countries allow it, including Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany.
Those countries will be surprised to learn that they don’t have what Trump regards as “real democracy.”
But then again, America is rapidly losing what the rest of the world calls “real democracy.”
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Texas Progressives Rally Against 'Trump Takeover' in Austin
Rep. Greg Casar accused Trump and his Republican allies of "trying to pull off the most corrupt bargain I've ever seen."
Aug 16, 2025
Progressives rallied across the country on Saturday to protest against US President Donald Trump's attempts to get Republican-run state legislatures to redraw their maps to benefit GOP candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.
The anchor rally for the nationwide "Fight the Trump Takeover" protests was held in Austin, Texas, where Republicans in the state are poised to become the first in the nation to redraw their maps at the president's behest.
Progressives in the Lone Star State capital rallied against Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for breaking with historical precedent by carrying out congressional redistricting in the middle of the decade. Independent experts have estimated that the Texas gerrymandering alone could yield the GOP five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.
Speaking before a boisterous crowd of thousands of people, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) charged that the Texas GOP was drawing up "districts set up to elect a Trump minion" in next year's midterms. However, Doggett also said that progressives should still try to compete in these districts, whose residents voted for Trump in the 2024 election but who also have histories of supporting Democratic candidates.
"Next year, [Trump is] not going to be on the ballot to draw the MAGA vote," said Doggett. "Is there anyone here who believes that we ought to abandon any of these redrawn districts and surrender them to Trump?"
Leonard Aguilar, the secretary-treasurer of Texas AFL-CIO, attacked Abbott for doing the president's bidding even as people in central Texas are still struggling in the aftermath of the deadly floods last month that killed at least 136 people.
"It's time for Gov. Abbott to cut the bullshit," he said. "We need help now but he's working at the behest of the president, on behalf of Trump... He's letting Trump take over Texas!"
Aguilar also speculated that Trump is fixated on having Texas redraw its maps because he "knows he's in trouble and he wants to change the rules midstream."
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) went through a litany of grievances against Trump and the Republican Party, ranging from the Texas redistricting plan, to hardline immigration policies, to the massive GOP budget package passed last month that is projected to kick 17 million Americans off of Medicaid.
However, Casar also said that he felt hope watching how people in Austin were fighting back against Trump and his policies.
"I'm proud that our city is fighting," he said. "I'm proud of the grit that we have even when the odds are stacked against us. The only answer to oligarchy is organization."
Casar went on to accuse Trump and Republicans or "trying to pull off the most corrupt bargain I've ever seen," and then added that "as they try to kick us off our healthcare, as they try to rig this election, we're not going to let them!"
Saturday's protests are being done in partnership with several prominent progressive groups, including Indivisible, MoveOn, Human Rights Campaign, Public Citizen, and the Communication Workers of America. Some Texas-specific groups—including Texas Freedom Network, Texas AFL-CIO, and Texas for All—are also partners in the protest.
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Texas GOP Messes With Democracy—and How to Stop It
A partisan redistricting arms race cannot be the only answer. We urgently need national redistricting standards that apply across the country—to red states and blue states alike.
Aug 15, 2025
Voters should choose their politicians, not the other way around. The Texas gerrymander and the partisan war it has triggered signal an extraordinarily dangerous period for American democracy.
Gerrymandering leads to less choice, less representation for voters, and less accountability for politicians. It also produces more polarization, as party primary voters rather than general election voters have the loudest say. And voters of color all too often suffer the most as their communities are cynically sliced and diced to engineer partisan advantage.
The phenomenon is not new. In the very first congressional election, Patrick Henry drew a House district to try to keep James Madison from being elected to Congress. Both parties eventually participated in the practice. Over the years, technology and an increasingly partisan governing style have made things worse. In last year’s election, only 37 House seats were competitive, and those were decided by 5 percentage points or less. Just 11 of those districts flipped between parties.
But what’s going on in Texas now is particularly wrong. Gov. Greg Abbott is pursuing a gerrymander to produce five new seats for Republicans, mid-decade (long after the census), at the expense of Black and Latino voters, all on orders from a sitting president. It’s a raw power grab.
For too long, when it comes to protecting voters, to quote the poet William Butler Yeats, “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
It is part of an unprecedented White House push to tilt the electoral terrain in 2026 and beyond. Vice President JD Vance just met with state leaders in Indiana to urge redrawing of maps there. Florida, Missouri, and other states may follow suit. President Trump even called for a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants. (That’s logistically impossible as well as unconstitutional.) Last week, the Brennan Center outlined how the administration aims to undermine election rules across the country.
It’s no surprise that Democrats are responding as they have across the nation: They’re outraged and have pledged to redraw maps in states they control. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thurdsday announced a new map before California voters in November to match Texas’s harvest of Republican seats. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to “fight fire with fire.”
But ultimately, a partisan redistricting arms race cannot be the only answer. We urgently need national redistricting standards that apply across the country — to red states and blue states alike.
On this topic, in recent years, the Supreme Court has walked away from its duty. In Rucho v. Common Cause in 2019, it declared that federal judges could not protect against unfair maps. Racial discrimination is still illegal, but judges now wink and allow politicians to gerrymander so long as they claim it’s about politics, not race.
Even so, the Court noted that Congress has the constitutional power to set national standards. And just recently, it almost did.
The Freedom to Vote Act sought to bar partisan gerrymandering nationwide. It also would have banned mid-decade redistricting and set other national standards — and made it easier and faster for voters to win relief. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would have strengthened protections against racially discriminatory maps. These landmark bills came achingly close to enactment in 2022. Together they would stop what is happening today, cold.
National standards, like other reforms, do not flow from hazy idealism. They reflect hard reality: Congress has the power to prohibit political abuse. President Biden did not press for these reforms until it was too late in his term. President Obama, too, did not demand action when he held power. This inaction reflected a repeated failure of imagination as well as will.
For too long, when it comes to protecting voters, to quote the poet William Butler Yeats, “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
Those who want to undermine American democracy have shown that they will act with impunity. Those who profess to care about the law must respond with equal boldness. If they have the chance, they must act to unrig the system. While the Supreme Court helped get us into this mess, all eyes will be on Congress to get us out.
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Texas Senate Passes Political Map Rigged for Trump as Abbott Threatens Second Session
"This mid-decade redistricting isn't about fair representation—it's about politicians picking their voters instead of voters choosing their leaders," said the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus.
Aug 12, 2025
Despite a walkout by most Democrats in the Texas Senate on Tuesday, the chamber's 19 Republicans voted to approve a new congressional map that favors the GOP, which they aim to force through at President Donald Trump's request.
The gerrymandering battle has drawn national attention, as many Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives have fled the state to block the map from advancing, and Democratic governors have not only welcomed those legislators but also threatened to redraw their maps to counter the effort to hand Republicans five more congressional seats in the Lone Star State.
On Tuesday, nine Democrats walked out of the Senate, while Democratic Sens. Judith Zaffrini (21) and Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (20) stayed and voted against the redistricting legislation, S.B. 4. The Houston Chronicle reported that the pair did not respond to requests for comment, but both represent South Texas, where "Trump made major gains in the last election."
In a lengthy statement about the Legislature's current special session and Tuesday's walkout, the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus stressed that families impacted by last month's deadly flooding "cannot afford more delays."
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott "has the power to move relief funds to survivors immediately using the same emergency budget authority he's used many times—for his border wall, school safety, and even to restore the Legislature's own funding," the Democrats noted. "But now, he's tying the passage of urgently needed relief to an unconstitutional redistricting plan."
"This mid-decade redistricting isn't about fair representation—it's about politicians picking their voters instead of voters choosing their leaders," the caucus continued, warning of future efforts to rig maps for the Republican Party. "That's why we walked out—because this session should only be about flood relief, and we refuse to engage in a corrupt process."
Abbott, meanwhile, threatened to "immediately" call a second special session if the chambers wrap up early on Friday as planned.
"The special session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans," he said Tuesday. "There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them. I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed."
Texas House Democrats have made clear that they intend to continue their quorum break despite their GOP colleagues' issuing civil arrest warrants, financial penalties, and even the legally dubious involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the request of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who faces a primary challenge from Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton has set his sights on former Democratic Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, whose political group Powered by People fundraised to support the lawmakers who left the state. They are now engaged in a legal battle, and Paxton wants a Tarrant County judge to jail and fine O'Rourke for allegedly violating an injunction granted late last week that forbade him from raising money for the Democrats who fled or spending to cover their expenses.
As The Texas Tribune reported:
On Tuesday, Paxton claimed that O'Rourke had violated that temporary injunction at a Fort Worth rally Saturday, when he told the crowd, "There are no refs in this game, fuck the rules."
According to a video of the event, O'Rourke appeared to say that phrase after urging the crowd to support retaliatory redistricting in other blue states—not in relation to the injunction.
Paxton's motion also cited social media posts by O'Rourke after the injunction came down, in which the Democrat said he was "still raising and rallying to stop the steal of five congressional seats in Texas," and included a donation link.
According to the newspaper, attorneys for O'Rourke argued in a court filing that Paxton was "knowingly taking a statement entirely out of context to intentionally misrepresent the statement," and the attorney general's motion "misrepresents" the temporary injunction, which only blocks the former congressman and his group from fundraising for "nonpolitical purposes."
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FBI Helping GOP Track Down Texas Democrats Denounced as 'Threat to Our Democracy'
"They're grandstanding. There literally is no federal law applicable to this situation—none," said the governor of Illinois, which is hosting some of the lawmakers trying to prevent GOP gerrymandering.
Aug 07, 2025
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to help track down Texas lawmakers who left the state in a bid to block a new congressional map rigged to favor Republicans, sparking fears of a potential standoff between various law enforcement agencies or even illegal arrests by the FBI.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies in the state Legislature are trying to force through the map for 2026 during a special session to appease President Donald Trump. After over 50 elected Democrats fled to Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York on Sunday, their GOP colleagues issued civil arrest warrants, and Cornyn sent a letter requesting federal assistance.
"I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats," Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a Thursday statement. "I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas. We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities."
The Texas Tribune reported that "a spokesperson for Cornyn declined to provide additional information about the specifics of the FBI's involvement, and the bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
Responding in a statement, Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said that "the idea that the FBI would be weaponized to hunt down democratically elected lawmakers because they are standing in the way of President Trump's partisan political agenda should alarm every American."
"It's taking a page out of the authoritarian playbook to intimidate political opponents and force a vote on rigged electoral maps that would help MAGA Republicans cling to power," she added. "We stand with the brave Democratic lawmakers who are putting everything on the line to resist this partisan power grab orchestrated by Trump and Gov. Abbott, and we urge them to keep up the fight."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the group Public Citizen, said that "when politicians deploy federal law enforcement against state elected officials simply for opposing their agenda, they attack our system and put our American freedoms at risk. We stand with the patriotic legislators who are resisting this authoritarian overreach. This moment represents a deep-seated threat to our democracy as we know it."
Experts and elected officials, including Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have emphasized that the FBI does not have the authority to enforce the civil warrants, and the Texas Democrats don't face any criminal ones. On Wednesday, News Not Noise's Jessica Yellin asked Pritzker about Cornyn's request to the FBI and Trump's comment that the agency "may have to" get involved.
"Well, they're grandstanding," the Illinois governor said. "There literally is no federal law applicable to this situation—none. They can say that they're sending FBI. FBI agents might show up just to—I don't know—again, to put a show on."
"But the fact is that, you know, our local law enforcement protect everybody in Illinois," he continued. "Our state troopers protect everybody in Illinois and anybody who's here in Illinois. And so, whether it's federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven't broken federal law, you're basically unwelcome, and there's no way that our state legislators here—the Texas state legislators—can be arrested."
Pritzker also stressed that the entire series of events "is really all about politics," explaining that Abbott is an "avid follower" of Trump, and Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging Cornyn for his Senate seat, "so they're fighting, bickering over who can be tougher on this topic."
The gerrymandering battle has also generated at least one major threat of violence. Early Wednesday, a hotel in the Chicago suburbs where some Texas Democrats are staying had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat. Local law enforcement searched the building before allowing guests to return.
"All members are safe; everything is fine, and we are charting the course forward," Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, said after the evacuation. "It's going to take more than a couple of threats to try to scare Texas Democrats off of this course. It is essential to us and what we believe as Democrats that people deserve representation in our government, and we are moving full steam ahead."
Reporting on Cornyn's Thursday statement about the FBI, The New York Times noted that "several Democrats said that as of Thursday morning no federal agents had been seen or reported at their hotel, in St. Charles, Illinois."
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