At parks, coffee shops, churches and government buildings around the country, hundreds of groups are gathering today with a simple message: “Stop the Trump takeover.”

Texas’ Republican-led legislature gave initial approval to a controversial new electoral map on Wednesday, a redistricting move designed to give the GOP an additional five seats in the U.S.

The House map was then passed by a Senate committee Thursday morning and could get a vote before the full Senate as early as Thursday night.

Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas to deny Republicans the quorum needed to vote on a redistricting plan that President Trump demanded.

Protests erupt across the U.S. over GOP-led redistricting, claimed to be gerrymandering to increase Republican congressional seats, with Trump's support and similar Democratic tactics noted.

About 200 are gathered in the rotunda for a rally supporting Democrats as Republicans prepare to approve new congressional maps on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025.

Thousands assembled around the country to demonstrate against a Republican effort to redraw congressional maps in their favor for 2026.

"Trump is trying to steal the 2026 election by rigging the system and changing electoral maps," the event's website states. "We are fighting back."

Texas Democrats who oppose a controversial Republican-led redistricting plan appear to be shifting strategy from walkout to holding protest rallies.

They cast their move as a rebuke of President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in California and has urged Texan officials to hand the GOP five more House seats. “This bill gives voters a choice — a choice to keep the current districts or adopt maps to counter the actions of MAGA extremists in Texas who are obediently working to tip the scales for President Trump,