After leaving Texas for Illinois to prevent a legislative vote on a Republican redistricting plan, state House Democratic leader Gene Wu needed a means to project his voice — and viewpoints — to a national audience. So he tapped his campaign account to buy a microphone for news conferences.

During a special committee meeting on Congressional redistricting on Thursday (August 7), Texas Senate Republican Phil King and Democrat Borris Miles took part in a heated debate over adopting a new redistricting map championed by U.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin criticized President Donald Trump’s comments that Republicans are “entitled” to redraw Texas’s congressional map to add five red seats. “No party is entitled to any district,” Martin said at a news conference Tuesday with Texas Democratic lawmakers who are trying to block the plan.