The time Texas Democrats fled to New Mexico to block redistricting

Two decades ago, New Mexico wasn’t quite the headlining act in American politics, but it was maybe headlining a side stage.

In 2003, Texas Senate Democrats decamped to Albuquerque to block a special legislative session in which Lone Star Republicans were hellbent on rewriting congressional district lines just two years after the regular decennial redistricting. 

It may seem hard to believe now, but Democrats actually held a majority of Texas congressional seats in 2003, something the new Republican trifecta wanted to change. 

This came after a holdout from their counterparts in the House, who had traveled to Oklahoma to deny Republicans in that chamber a majority to run out the clock on the regular legislative session.

Now, history is repeating itself.

This week, Texas House Democrats fled the state to block gerrymandering efforts by state Republicans in a special session. Most are in Illinois, with some going to New York and others to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual summit.

This is made possible by Texas’ requirements for a supermajority of members of each chamber to be in place for a quorum. The House requires 100 of 150 members to be present for a quorum.

Not showing up to the state capitol in Austin is a strategy from the minority that, while rare, has dated back to the 19th century.

I took a look at the archives in The New York Times as well as local newspapers via Newspapers.com (I will cite the source of each story; if there is no link, then you can assume it came from the Newspapers.com archives) to see what that short time in history looked like from a mostly New Mexico and Texas point of view.