Abbott has tasked lawmakers with redrawing congressional districts mid-decade. The move follows a U.S. Department of Justice letter to state leaders that said three Houston districts and a Fort Worth area district are “unconstitutional ‘coalition districts’” because they’re racially drawn.

Texas lawmakers in 2023 passed House Bill 2127, dubbed the “Death Star” bill by opponents, which aims to overturn cities’ progressive policies and prevent them from enacting future ordinances that aren’t aligned with broad swaths of state law.

The Texas GOP knows the risk. In the 2010s, the Republican-controlled Legislature drew political lines that helped pad the GOP’s House majority. That lasted until 2018, when a backlash against Trump in his first term led Democrats to flip two seats in Texas that Republicans had thought safe.

State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat based in Austin, continued his schedule of news media interviews, sitting down with popular podcast host Joe Rogan to discuss how his Christian views contradict those of the religiously conservative politicians leading Texas.

The Texas Legislative special session kicks off with a full agenda. The special session could last up to 30 days, but Governor Greg Abbott controls the overtime in legislative sessions.

The Legislature will look at proposals for emergency preparedness in a special session that was already planned over hemp laws. A bill to help build emergency systems failed in the spring.

Rather than accept mid-decade redistricting during a special legislative session, liberal lawmakers are considering fleeing the state.

Sunday's protest, titled "Focus on Flooding, Not Redistricting", will take aim at the efforts by Texas to add Republican seats to Congress.