Trump's redistricting fight could broaden and last a while with Texas and California as epicenters

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The two most populous U.S. states — California and Texas — are grappling for political advantage ahead of the 2026 elections, setting up a national proxy war as Democrats and Republicans vie for control of Congress in the latter half of Donald Trump's second presidency.

Texas Democrats on Tuesday again delayed their state’s House of Representatives from moving forward with a redrawn congressional map sought by Trump to shore up Republicans’ midterm prospects as his political standing falters. For a second day, Democrats forced a quick adjournment by denying the GOP majority the required attendance to take votes.

In California, Democrats encouraged by Gov. Gavin Newsom are considering new political maps that could slash Republican-held House seats in the left-leaning state while bolstering Democratic incumbents in battleground districts. The move is intended to counter any GOP gains in Texas — though California Democrats could face even more complex legal and logistical hurdles.

Under existing maps, Democrats are within three seats of reclaiming the U.S. House majority.

For years, the two behemoth states have set competing political and cultural curves, dueling over jobs, innovation, prestige and ideology. Now, the rivalry is at the center of the two major parties' scramble to win an edge in 2026.

“We are entitled to five more seats" in Texas, Trump insisted Tuesday in a CNBC interview. He pointed to California’s existing maps, which are drawn by an independent commission unlike the Texas maps drawn by a partisan legislature: “They did it to us.”

National Democratic Chairman Ken Martin said Trump and compliant Republicans are subverting democracy out of fear given the president's lagging approval ratings and voter angst over the massive tax and policy bill he signed last month.

“Republicans are running scared that voting for this monstrosity will make them lose their majority, and it certainly will,” Martin said in Illinois, where multiple Texas Democrats have settled temporarily to deny their Republican colleagues a quorum in Austin.

Though the two states are seeking similar outcomes, Texas is in the final stages of its effort while California is just embarking on a path riddled with obstacles. Both states are likely to face well-funded legal challenges should they move ahead with new maps. The fight could spill over to other statehouses.

After dozens of Democrats left Texas, the Republican-dominated House remains unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business.

The House issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers to find and arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond state authorities' jurisdiction. Democrats’ retort that Abbott is blustering about legal authority he does not have.

House Speaker Rep. Dustin Burrows said Tuesday that Texas officers are continuing efforts to corral lawmakers but offered no details.

Abbott, for his part, has derided absent Democrats as “un-Texan.” Democrats cast the governor and his ally, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as Trump lackeys.

“When Donald Trump calls, they say, ‘Yes, sir. Right away,’” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday.

Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 U.S. House seats. The GOP replacement map is drawn to give Republicans five more seats. Republicans' current advantage of nearly 2-to-1 already is a wider partisan gap than the 2024 presidential results: Trump won 56.1% of Texas ballots, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%.

The Texas House will convene again Friday.

In California, Democrats are looking into a plan to secure 48 of 52 congressional seats. That’s up from the 43 seats. The existing party gap outpaces the statewide presidential split in 2024: Harris got 58.5% of the vote to Trump's 38.3%.

Newsom has said he won’t move ahead if Texas pauses its efforts. But he and legislative Democrats face a tight timeline to advance their plan. Once they hit go, several hurdles await.

Unlike Texas, which only requires legislative approval on the maps, California's maps would also need support from voters. They may be skeptical to give it after handing redistricting power to an independent commission years ago. The governor said he’d call a special election for the first week of November. Voter turnout in odd-year elections is hard to predict, and Newsom would be campaigning at a time when his popularity among voters has been sagging.

And opposition has formed quickly.

Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signaled he'd campaign to protect the independent redistricting commission that was one of his signature accomplishments. Schwarzenegger spokesman Danile Ketchell said in a statement that the former governor has always advocated “taking power from the politicians and returning it to the people where it belongs, and he believes gerrymandering is evil no matter who does it.”

Still, many Democrats hope Newsom's push will compel Texas Republicans to stand down.

Despite California's cumbersome path, a potentially extended stalemate in Texas — even if the GOP ultimately gets its way there — could give Newsom and his allies more time to rally support.

Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said there is uncertainty but that “Democrats have a path to victory if they can make this a referendum on Donald Trump and his collaboration with Texas to stack the deck in his favor.”

Further, Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who also welcomed some Texas lawmakers, have promised to explore ways to redraw congressional districts to counter GOP efforts. That means Texas and California could simply be blueprints for a multistate redistricting bonanza.

For their parts, Texas legislators who left declined to say how long they'll hold out.

“There's folks saying that we walked out. I think everyone behind me would say we're standing up, and as Texans would say, we're standing tall,” said state Rep. Ramon Romero, who decamped to Illinois.

Walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, like in 2021, when Democrats left Texas for 38 days to protest proposed voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans passed that measure. After that dispute, Texas Republicans adopted $500 daily fines for lawmakers who don't show.

“I’ll pay that price for America,” Romero said.

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Blood reported from Los Angeles. Trân Nguyễn contributed from Sacramento.

Texas House Rep. Joe Moody, D - El Paso, stands at the back of the House Chambers with empty chairs belonging to House Democrats protesting a redistricting map at the State Capitol, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

Texas House Rep. Daniel Alders, R - Tyler, stands at his desk during with empty chairs belonging to House Democrats remain empty in the State Capitol, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accompanied by several members of the Texas state Legislature, calls for a new way for California to redraw its voting districts, during a news conference In Sacramento, Calif., Friday July 25, 2025. (AP Photo by Rich Pedroncelli,File)

Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Wu, center, speaks with the media following a press conference with other Texas House Democrats and Democratic members of Congress at the Democratic Party in Warrenville, Ill., Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Democratic Texas Rep. Ron Reynolds, center, surrounded by other Texas House Democrats and Democratic members of Congress, speaks during a press conference at the Democratic Party in Warrenville, Ill., Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before President Donald Trump's administration started dismantling the Education Department, the agency served as a powerful enforcer in cases of sexual violence at schools and universities. It brought the weight of the government against schools that mishandled sexual assault complaints involving students.

That work is quickly fading away.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights was gutted in Trump’s mass layoffs last year, leaving half as many lawyers to investigate complaints of discrimination based on race, sex or disability in schools. Those who remain face a backlog of more than 25,000 cases.

Investigations have dwindled. Before the layoffs last March, the office opened dozens of sexual violence investigations a year. Since then, it's opened fewer than 10 nationwide, according to internal data obtained by The Associated Press.

Yet Trump's Republican administration has doubled down on sexual discrimination cases of another kind. Trump officials have used Title IX, a 1972 gender equality law, against schools that make accommodations for transgender students and athletes. The Office for Civil Rights has opened nearly 50 such investigations since Trump took office a year ago.

Even before the layoffs, critics said the office was understaffed and moved too slowly. Now, many firms that handle Title IX cases have stopped filing complaints, calling it a dead end.

“It almost feels like you’re up against the void,” said Katie McKay, a lawyer at the New York firm C.A. Goldberg.

“It feels like a big question mark right now,” she said. “How are we supposed to hold a school accountable once it has messed up?”

An Education Department spokesperson said the office is working through its caseload, blaming President Joe Biden's Democratic administration for leaving a backlog and rewriting Title IX rules to protect LGBTQ+ students. Trump officials rolled back those rules.

“The Trump Administration has restored commonsense safeguards against sexual violence by returning sex-based separation in intimate facilities,” spokesperson Julie Hartman said. “OCR is and will continue to safeguard the dignity and safety of our nation’s students.”

The layoffs have slowed work at the Office for Civil Rights across the board, but it has an outsize impact on cases of sexual violence. Students who are mistreated by their schools — including victims and accused students alike — have few other venues to pursue justice.

Many are now left with two options: File a lawsuit or walk away.

One woman said she’s losing hope for a complaint she filed in 2024. She alleges her graduate school failed to follow its own policies when it suspended but didn't expel another student found by the school to have sexually assaulted her. No one has contacted her about the complaint since 2024.

The woman recently sued her school as a last resort. She said it feels like a David and Goliath mismatch.

“They have all the power, because there is no large organization holding them accountable. It’s just me, just this one individual who’s filing this simple suit," the woman said. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission.

The civil rights office is supposed to provide a free alternative to litigation. Anyone can file a complaint, which can trigger an investigation and sanctions for schools that violate federal law.

In 2024, the agency received more than 1,000 complaints involving sexual violence or sexual harassment, according to an annual report.

It’s unclear how many complaints have been filed more recently. Trump's administration has not reported newer figures. In conversations with the AP, some staffers said cases are piling up so quickly they can’t track how many involve sexual violence.

In December, the department acknowledged the civil rights backlog and announced dozens of downsized workers would be brought back to the office amid a legal challenge to their layoffs. The workers' return offers some hope to those with pending civil rights complaints. Department officials have vowed to keep pushing for the layoffs.

Before Trump was elected to his second term, the office had more than 300 pending investigations involving sexual assault, according to a public database. Most of those cases are believed to be sitting idle as investigators prioritize easier complaints, according to staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The details of past cases underscore the urgency of the work.

In 2024, the office took action against a Pennsylvania school system after a girl with a disability told staff she had been sexually touched by a bus driver. She was put back on that driver’s bus later that afternoon, plus the next two days. The district was required to designate a Title IX coordinator for its schools, review previous complaints and consider compensation for the girl's family.

That year, the office demanded changes at a Montana school where a boy was pinned down by other students and assaulted after a wrestling practice. The students had been suspended for three days after school officials treated it as a case of hazing instead of sexual assault.

In another case, the office sided with a University of Notre Dame student who had been expelled over accusations of sexual misconduct. The student said the college never told him precisely what he was accused of and refused to interview witnesses he put forward.

Cases that get attention from the federal office are being handled under federal rules created during Trump’s first term. Those rules were designed to bolster the rights of students accused of sexual misconduct.

Lawyers who work with accused students see little improvement.

Justin Dillon, a Washington lawyer, said some of his recent complaints have been opened for investigation. He tells clients not to hold their breath. Even before the layoffs, cases could drag on for years, he said.

Others gave up on the office years ago. The LLF National Law Firm said it stopped filing complaints in 2021 in favor of suing schools directly. Lawyers at the firm said the office had become incapable of delivering timely outcomes, which was only worsened by the layoffs.

Complaints can be resolved several ways. They can be dismissed if they don't pass legal muster. Many go to mediation, akin to a settlement. Some end in voluntary agreements from schools, with plans to rectify past wrongs and prevent future ones.

In 2024, under Biden, the office secured 23 voluntary agreements from schools and colleges in cases involving sexual violence, according to a public database. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, there were 58. Since Trump took office again last year, there have been none.

The dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights comes as a blow to Laura Dunn, a civil rights lawyer who was influential in getting President Barack Obama's Democratic administration to make campus sexual assault a priority. As the issue gained public attention, the office started fielding hundreds of complaints a year.

“All the progress survivors have made by sharing their story is being lost,” said Dunn, who's now a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York. “We are literally losing civil rights progress in the United States, and it’s pushing us back more than 50 years.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, on Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)