The swift passage was a decisive victory for Governor Gavin Newsom, widely seen as a possible 2028 White House contender whose national political stature has climbed as he led Democrats' charge against what they decried as an attempted power grab in the Republican-led state of Texas.

The Texas redistricting battle is entering a new front as the fight turns to the courts, where Democrats and civil rights groups are expected to challenge the newly passed maps. Texas House Democrats who had fled the state to stall the maps said that they were returning “to the House floor and to the courthouse” this