Texas redistricting standoff escalates with threat to arrest absent Democrats
Date: 2025-08-05T09:53:48.000Z
Title: Texas governor threatens arrest of Democrats absent at Monday redistricting vote
Content: Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Texas governor Greg Abbott has escalated the standoff over redrawing the state's congressional districts by threatening to arrest Democratic lawmakers who are using their collective absence from the state capital to prevent the move.
More than 50 Democrats have fled from Texas, staging a kind of temporary political exile in Democratic-led states, Reuters reports. It is intended to deny Republicans in Austin the quorum necessary to vote on their redistricting plan, championed by president Donald Trump.
By redrawing lines in hopes of flipping some seats in the US House of Representatives currently held by Democrats, the Republican Party aims to protect its narrow majority in next year's congressional midterm elections. Trump has told reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans.
During Monday's statehouse session in Austin, the Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives issued civil warrants for the wayward Democrats – most of whom have gone to Illinois, New York or Massachusetts - to be brought back to Austin.
'To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans,' Abbott said in a statement.
But the move seems largely symbolic. The warrants apply only within the state, and breaking quorum is not a crime that would allow Texas authorities to pursue extradition from other states.
Read our latest story here:
In other developments:
The former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioners and non-partisan economic groups have criticized Donald Trump's shock firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July jobs report data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer.
About 600 former Israeli security officials, including previous heads of the Mossad and the military, have urged Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza as the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, considers expanding the conflict.
Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza.
More than 40 people protesting the war in Gaza and worsening humanitarian crisis were arrested outside the Trump International hotel in New York City on Monday evening.
Donald Trump's special envoy is expected in Moscow days before the US president's deadline on Friday for Russia to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine or face increased US sanctions.
The US state department has prepared plans to impose bonds as high as $15,000 for some tourism and business visas, according to a draft of a temporary final rule. The bonds would be issued to visitors from countries with significant overstay rates, under a 12-month pilot program.
The Trump administration is seeking to block veterans from receiving abortions at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs in cases of rape or incest, or when a veteran's pregnancy has imperiled their health, according to new paperwork filed by the administration.
The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country's president has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff.
News Corp, part of the Murdoch family media empire, has announced it will bring a version of the brash rightwing New York tabloid to California in early 2026.
Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she feels the Republican party has lost touch with its base – but she said she has no plans to leave the party.
More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian.
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