Democracy’s a pretty simple concept: Voters vote for a politician, the politician with the most votes wins, and that politician then represents voters as an elected official. That’s the idea anyway, right?

But what if — just what if — instead of voters picking politicians, politicians instead could choose their own voters? And basically guarantee their own outcomes?

That’s what’s at play in Texas. Facing such a situation, Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state Sunday to block passage of a new congressional map designed to regroup Texas voters to all but guarantee the GOP five additional seats in the US House of Representatives next year. Republicans currently have a seven-seat advantage.

It’s a move that has set off a national fight over redistricting ahead of 2026’s midterm election

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