As the ongoing redistricting stalemate plays out from Austin to Chicago and beyond, county leaders around Texas – both Republicans and Democrats – are now concerned about their ability to comply with Texas law under a potentially compressed timeline ahead of primary elections in 2026.
Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Friday, establishing the basis for a second special session. The second session, which will start Monday, maintains nearly the same agenda as the first special session, with the inclusion of legislation addressing public safety at youth camps. While Democrats say they will start coming home, until that happens, there will not be a quorum, and the House will be unable to organize itself for the governor’s planned second special session.
Beyond the State Capitol, county leaders are also becoming increasingly concerned that if GOP leadership in Austin can’t speed things up, counties won’t be able to meet deadlines set out in the state’s election laws regarding the redrawing of voting precincts in newly reconfigured congressional districts. That appears to be a significant and timely concern throughout the state.
The Texas Election Code sets a hard deadline for county commissioners’ courts to redraw voting precincts under new maps. Article 42.032 of the Election Code states: “If changes in county election precinct boundaries are necessary to give effect to a redistricting plan under Article III, Section 28, of the Texas Constitution, each Commissioners Court shall order the changes before October 1 of the year in which the redistricting is done.” The legislature created this hard deadline for counties in 1987.
Abbott has even suggested it could be possible to hold two sets of elections on different schedules: one for state level offices and a different election for members of Congress.
In addition to the Oct. 1 deadline, Section 172.023 of the Election Code lays out the timelines for filing for next year’s primary. That window opens on Nov. 8, 2025 and closes on Dec. 8, 2025.
Meanwhile, efforts by both the governor and the attorney general to get the State Supreme Court to vacate several Democratic legislators’ seats continue to advance. The Supreme Court has set an early September deadline for filing and responding to briefs. On Wednesday, attorneys for the Senate Democratic Caucus filed an amicus brief in support of their House colleagues.
It appears that a new Special Session will begin sometime next week but the legal process will continue. The jury is out on whether timing will allow the redistricting effort to be successful or not.
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