By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and ANDREW DeMILLO, Related Press
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll start attempting to take away Democratic lawmakers from workplace Monday in the event that they don’t return after dozens of them left the state in a last-resort try to dam redrawn U.S. Home maps that President Donald Trump needs earlier than the 2026 midterm elections.
The revolt by the state Home Democrats, a lot of whom went to Illinois or New York on Sunday, and Abbott giving them lower than 24 hours to come back dwelling ratcheted up a widening combat over congressional maps that started in Texas however has drawn in Democratic governors who’ve floated the potential for speeding to redraw their very own state’s maps in retaliation. Their choices, nevertheless, are restricted.
On the heart of the escalating deadlock is Trump’s pursuit of including 5 extra GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas earlier than subsequent 12 months that might bolster his social gathering’s possibilities of preserving its slim U.S. Home majority.
The brand new congressional maps drawn by Texas Republicans would create 5 new Republican-leaning seats. Republicans at the moment maintain 25 of the state’s 38 seats.
A vote on the proposed maps had been set for Monday within the Texas Home of Representatives, nevertheless it can not proceed if the vast majority of Democratic members deny a quorum by not exhibiting up. After one group of Democrats landed in Chicago on Sunday, they had been welcomed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, however declined to say how lengthy they had been ready to remain out of Texas.
“We will do whatever it takes. What that looks like, we don’t know,” mentioned state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas Home Democratic Caucus chief.
However legislative walkouts typically solely delay passage of a invoice, together with in 2021 when most of the similar Texas Home Democrats left the state for 38 days in protest of latest voting restrictions. As soon as they returned, Republicans nonetheless wound up passing that measure.
4 years later, Abbott is taking a much more aggressive stance and swiftly warning Democrats that he’ll search to take away them from workplace if they aren’t again when the Home reconvenes Monday afternoon. He cited a non-binding 2021 authorized opinion issued by Republican Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton, which instructed a courtroom may decide {that a} legislator had forfeited their workplace.
He additionally instructed the lawmakers might have dedicated felonies by elevating cash to assist pay for fines they’d face.
“This truancy ends now,” Abbott mentioned.
In response, Home Democrats issued a four-word assertion: “Come and take it.”
The state of the vote
Lawmakers can’t move payments within the 150-member Texas Home with out at the least two-thirds of them current. Democrats maintain 62 of the seats within the majority-Republican chamber and at the least 51 left the state, mentioned Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the Home Democratic Caucus.
Republican Home Speaker Dustin Burrows mentioned the chamber would nonetheless meet as deliberate on Monday afternoon.
“If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table. . .,” he posted on X.
Paxton, who’s operating for U.S. Senate, mentioned on X that Democrats who “try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”
Fines for not exhibiting up
A refusal by Texas lawmakers to point out up is a civil violation of legislative guidelines. The Texas Supreme Courtroom held in 2021 that Home leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of lacking members, however no Democrats had been forcibly introduced again to the state after warrants had been served that 12 months. Two years later, Republicans pushed by means of new guidelines that permit every day fines of $500 for lawmakers who don’t present up for work as punishment.
The quorum break may also delay votes on flood aid and new warning techniques within the wake of final month’s catastrophic floods in Texas that killed at the least 136 individuals. Democrats had known as for votes on the flooding response earlier than taking over redistricting and have criticized Republicans for not doing so.
Illinois hosts Texas lawmakers
Pritzker, a possible 2028 presidential contender who has been considered one of Trump’s most outspoken critics throughout his second time period, had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about providing help in the event that they selected to go away the state to interrupt quorum.
Texas Home Democrats be part of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks in regards to the Texas Republican plans to redraw the Home map throughout a press convention on the Democratic Celebration of DuPage County workplace in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Picture/Mark Black)
Pritzker additionally met privately with Texas Democratic Chair Kendall Scudder in June to start planning for the chance that lawmakers would depart for Illinois in the event that they did resolve to interrupt quorum to dam the map, in response to a supply with direct data who requested anonymity to debate personal conversations.
“This is not just rigging the system in Texas, it’s about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come,” Pritzker mentioned Sunday night time.
Trump is seeking to keep away from a repeat of his first time period, when Democrats flipped the Home simply two years into his presidency, and hopes the brand new Texas map will support that effort. Trump officers have additionally checked out redrawing strains in different states.
Related Press author Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.
Initially Revealed: August 4, 2025 at 9:05 AM EDT
