WATCH: Texas state GOP senator says redistricting fight could ‘save America’

GOP Texas state senator Mayes Middleton told Fox News Digital that the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to Republicans’ redistricting fight with Democrats in Texas, arguing that the effort to redraw the maps in Texas could “save America.”

Middleton pointed out that if the results of the 2026 mid-term elections lead to another razor-thin majority for Republicans, the Congress “will know” that the Texas redistricting bill was responsible for the GOP maintaining its power. Meanwhile, despite Democrats’ attempts to halt the GOP redistricting effort by fleeing the state, Middleton expressed little concern that these challenges would amount to anything.  

“Literally, this redistricting bill could save this entire nation. This is why this fight is so important to me,” Middleton said. “I will fight with everything in me to make sure that this map becomes law, and we get those five more Republican seats … It could literally save America.”

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Texas GOP state senator, Mayes Middleton, spoke to Fox News Digital about the ongoing redistricting battle in his state. (Getty Images/Fox News)

Despite the stakes, according to Middleton, he did not express concern about Democrats’ efforts to challenge the Republican redistricting bill, which has included dozens of Texas House Democrats fleeing the state to prevent the legislature from being able to conduct official business.

He called their challenge “meritless,” pointing to litigation stemming from his home county of Galveston that found that “coalition districts” — districts formed by combining multiple minority groups to reach a majority — were in violation of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, Democrats cannot claim an obligation to create such districts to preserve minority voting power, Republicans argue.

“Before the Petteway case was decided, basically you could add together various minority groups to get above 50% and then, under [Democrats’] interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, they said that was a protected district,” Middleton explained. “And that actually began when Galveston County Commissioners Court redistricted, and the last Democrat in the Commissioners Court was drawn out of office, and they sued and said that was racist. But yet, not long after, maybe a month after, Harris County redistricted and drew out a Republican, and they said that was fine. So that shows you just the ridiculous hypocrisy of the left in this case.”

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Texas has become a flashpoint for the debate over partisan gerrymandering amid a battle between Republicans and Democrats in the state over the former’s attempts to redraw congressional districts mid-way through the decade. (Getty Images)

Civil arrest warrants were issued by the Texas House Republican majority earlier this week in an effort to compel the absent Democrats to return, but they are only enforceable within state lines and do not lead to jail time, since the warrants are not criminal. Still, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has called on a court in Illinois, where a large swath of the Texas House Democrats fled, to enforce the warrants against Democrats.

In addition to blocking Texas Republicans’ redistricting bill, the exodus of Texas Democrats is obstructing crucial legislation from making its way through the legislature, Middleton told Fox News Digital.

J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, left, and State Representative Gene Wu, a Democrat from Texas, during a news conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, Illinois, US, on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025.  (Talia Sprague/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Middleton pointed to one bill being held up, Senate Bill 7, which aims to protect all-female spaces from being used by biological males who identify as transgender females. Others include a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying, an election-crime enforcement bill and critical flood relief legislation. 

“These are the conservative priorities that we were elected to get done. And the Democrats, of course, are looking for ways to block that are unlawful,” Middleton argued. “Frankly, they’re doing it in a way that will cause their office to be vacated if they don’t come back.”