In today's issue:

▪ Abbott issues warrants for fleeing Dems

▪ Trump faces GOP skeptics on economy

▪ MTG on her place in the Republican Party

▪ How will tariffs affect back-to-school shopping?

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THE PRE-2026 MIDTERM redistricting battle has kicked into high gear as Texas Democratic legislators face arrest warrants and blue state governors plot to fight back against GOP maps.

Texas Democrats’ refusal to show up to the Legislature is part of a rapidly escalating political war over the state GOP’s attempt to pass a highly unusual mid-decade redistricting plan.

President Trump has encouraged the move, which could help the GOP win five additional House seats in next year's elections. Republicans, bracing for an unfavorable political environment in 2026, are hoping for an edge as they seek to ward off a Democratic takeover of the House that would likely open the Trump administration to numerous investigations.

The group of 50-odd Texas Democratic lawmakers is threatening to wait out the remainder of the 30-day special session that gaveled in last month, depriving Republicans of a quorum.

In response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the arrest of the Democrats who fled the Lone Star State. The Texas House on Monday approved warrants to track down the missing lawmakers in an 85-6 vote.

Abbott said he would strip lawmakers who failed to return to the state Capitol of their seats. Texas lawmakers already incur a daily $500 fine and threat of arrest for breaking quorum, and Abbott previously threatened the legislators with bribery charges if national Democrats pick up the tab.

“I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state Legislature because they’re not doing the job they were elected to do,” Abbott said Monday on Fox News.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) — who is running as a right-wing challenger to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) this cycle — on Monday called the Democrats “jet-setting runaways” and said it was “imperative that they be swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law for turning their backs on the people of Texas.”

Abbott and Paxton did not mention the redistricting efforts in their statements, which Democrats describe as a naked power grab.

'COME AND TAKE IT': Members of the Texas state House on Monday lashed out at Republicans’ efforts to redraw the congressional district map, brushing off the governor's threats.

State Rep. John Bucy (D) argued Democrats' quorum-busting actions were necessary, adding upholding their oaths of office sometimes means refusing to play along in a “rigged game.”

“We’re not running away,” Busey said. “We’re running into the fight.”

Officials will have difficulty arresting the lawmakers as most are beyond the jurisdiction of Texas authorities. State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Texas), the chair of the chamber’s Democratic caucus who fled to Illinois, challenged Abbott to “come and take it,” referring to his seat.

“It’s all bluster,” Wu told CNN when asked if he thinks Abbott could successfully take away their seats. “Sound and fury signifying nothing.”

The rapidly escalating tit for tat underscores how the redistricting battle has turned into an all-out national brawl ahead of what both parties expect to be a fiercely fought midterm election.

While Texas is ground zero in the fight, The Hill’s Caroline Vakil and Saul Elbein report Democratic lawmakers from Illinois to California and New York are promising to retaliate with their own maps.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Monday said the time for impartial political mapmaking had long passed.

“If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they’re leaving us no choice; we must do the same,” Hochul declared in Albany, flanked by several Texas lawmakers. “I’m tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back. With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process.”

▪ The Hill: Five things to know about Texas Democrats fleeing the state amid redistricting fight.

▪ The Washington Post: In their own words: Why Texas Democrats fled.

PRESIDENTIAL SPOTLIGHT: 2028 hopefuls are using the Texas showdown as an opportunity to stand out, with heavyweights like California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) taking front-line positions in the battle, The Hill’s Amie Parnes notes.

Newsom is weighing several options in the national redistricting fight, with the Golden State eyeing redrawing its own maps and moving ahead through a ballot measure or the state Legislature.

Pritzker vowed to protect lawmakers who traveled to his state from the threat of arrest from top Texas leaders.

Their actions are welcome news to Democrats who have been itching for an opportunity to show voters they can put up a fight, Parnes reports.

“This is an issue that may not necessarily animate the electorate, but it ignites the base and the donor community,” said former Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), who led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2011 to 2015. “Democrats like Newsom, Pritzker … among others, are at least showing that rolling over isn’t a strategy. You have to fight fire with fire.”

Smart Take with Blake Burman

Here’s a headline you may have missed as the week began: “China is choking supply of critical minerals to Western Democracies.”

As The Wall Street Journal reports, China is limiting critical minerals to Western defense companies, who use those rare minerals to build key technology that supports our military. The topic also came up last week in my conversation with Peter Navarro, White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. I asked him if the White House plans to continue investing taxpayer dollars in American companies who supply rare earth minerals.

“We are going to have a lot of deals to fill out the supply chain. That’s the strategy across critical minerals,” Navarro told me.

Rare earths are a new battleground between the U.S. and China, and it's worth watching to see which companies the government chooses to invest in, along with how many.

Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

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