Texas Governor Is Using Disaster Relief as Political Leverage in His Redistricting Wars

“Greg Abbott just told flood survivors across Texas that their suffering comes second to Donald Trump’s thirst for power,” the Texas Democratic Party chairman said in a statement.

By Danielle Han | August 5, 2025 | 10:37am

Photo: Getty Images Politics

Texas Governor Is Using Disaster Relief as Political Leverage in His Redistricting Wars

Texas Governor Greg Abbott boldly proclaims that “our lives are not defined by our challenges, but by how we respond to them.” Well, shit, governor. That makes you a very bad person.

In the name of toadying up to President Donald Trump and wresting more power from the state’s Democrats, Abbott is playing a sick political game–and using the state’s disaster victims as political leverage in the process. He began a 30-day “special legislative session” in Texas on July 21, setting then an agenda that included “relief funding for the impacted areas” after devastating floods killed at least 135 people earlier that month. But since then, it’s become glaringly obvious that the session exists as a deliberate attempt to push something else on the agenda: gerrymandering.

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Or, rather, “redrawing.” The White House is desperate to hold onto its cursed trifecta ahead of next year’s midterms, and redistricting Texas could safely secure another five seats for the GOP. Democratic representatives like Gene Wu reacted by slamming the proposed redrawings, calling them “racially-motivated” and saying they were “designed to steal the voices of Black and Latino Texans so Donald Trump can send five new hand-picked allies to Washington.”

Well, not if Texan Democrats have anything to do with it. The Texas State House needs a 100-member “quorum” to conduct business, but it’s only got 88 GOP members. And while Republicans can, with their majority, pass the bill on redistricting, they still need enough people present to even vote. Over the weekend, at least 51 Democrats, including Wu, “broke” the quorum—and are now on the lam. And Abbott is throwing a full-on hissy fit.

The MAGA magistrate was quick to issue a retaliatory press statement, calling the move an act of “truancy” and vowing to use his “full extradition authority” to wrangle the Democrats back into the state. He’s since issued a warrant for their arrest and deployed his rangers to comb the databases for any “potential violations of Texas law.” He’s also audaciously claimed the legislators’ absence is causing a hold-up in flood aid, and an unlisted PSA on his YouTube criticizes Wu, saying he is “refusing to show up for work to deliver the flood relief that Texas needs.”

Frustratingly, supporting the devastated communities could have—and can still be—the governor’s one-man job. “With a stroke of his pen, Abbott could have moved hundreds of millions of dollars by executive fiat,” the Houston Chronicle, Texas’s largest newspaper, wrote in an opinion piece. “He could have called a session with the sole objective of addressing the still-unfolding crisis in the Hill Country. But the lives of Texans come second to the desires of President Trump and his loyalists.”

Still, Abbott is trying to twist the narrative. In a statement on Monday, the governor said that “by fleeing the state, Texas House Democrats are holding hostage critical legislation to aid flood victims and advance property tax relief.” The gall.

“Greg Abbott just told flood survivors across Texas that their suffering comes second to Donald Trump’s thirst for power,” said Kendall Scudder, the Texas Democratic Party’s chairman. “He’s holding disaster flood relief hostage to steal five congressional seats–because Trump said so. That’s not governing, that’s gutless.”

It’s unclear how this showdown will play out: the out-of-state Democrats will have to pay a $500 fine for each day they’re not present without a valid excuse, and quorum breaks have never been successful. But in the meantime, spare a thought for the flood victims caught in the crossfire, and don’t lose track of your humanity. Lord knows Abbott has.

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