The Texas GOP knows the risk. In the 2010s, the Republican-controlled Legislature drew political lines that helped pad the GOP’s House majority. That lasted until 2018, when a backlash against Trump in his first term led Democrats to flip two seats in Texas that Republicans had thought safe.

House Democrats are actively preparing for political trench warfare against the GOP in next year’s midterm battle, with talks taking shape behind the scenes to mount a counterattack against President Donald Trump’s aggressive play in Texas that aims to cement GOP control of Washington for the rest of his second term.