Texas governor threatens to remove Democrats who left the state over Trump-backed redistricting
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will begin trying to remove Democratic lawmakers from office Monday if they do not return after dozens of them left the state in an attempt to block the adoption of redrawn U.S. House maps sought by President Donald Trump.
Some of the lawmakers, including those who left Sunday for Illinois or New York, clapped back, accusing Abbott of using 'smoke and mirrors' to make threats that go beyond his legal authority.
The revolt by Democrats in the state House and Abbott's threat ratcheted up a widening fight over congressional maps that began in Texas but expanded to include Democratic governors who have floated the possibility of rushing to redraw their own state maps in retaliation. But their options are limited.
The dispute also offers another example of Trump's aggressive view of presidential power and his grip on the Republican Party nationally, while testing the longstanding balance of powers between the federal government and individual states.
'We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by bunch of law breaking cowboys,' New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday, flanked by several of the lawmakers who fled. 'If Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us with no choice: We must do the same. You have to fight fire with fire.'
At the centre of the escalating impasse is Trump's hope of adding five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas before the 2026 midterm elections. That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its slim U.S. House majority. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state's 38 seats.
A vote on the proposed maps was set for Monday in the Texas House, but it cannot proceed if Democratic members deny a quorum by going to another state, which puts them beyond the reach of Texas law enforcement.
After one group of Democrats landed Sunday in Chicago, they were welcomed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, but declined to say how long they were prepared to stay away from Texas.
'We will do whatever it takes. What that looks like, we don't know,' said state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House Democratic Caucus leader.
But legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, including in 2021 when many of the same Texas House Democrats left the state for 38 days to protest new voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans still passed that measure.
Four years later, Abbott is taking a far more aggressive stance and warning Democrats that he will seek to remove them from office if they are not back when the House reconvenes Monday. He cited a nonbinding 2021 legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton that suggested a court could determine that a legislator had forfeited their office.
He also suggested the lawmakers may have committed felonies by raising money to help pay for fines they could face.
'This truancy ends now,' Abbott said.
House Democrats issued a four-word statement: 'Come and take it.' And some lawmakers who relocated to other states taunted the governor in response.
'He has no legal mechanism,' said Texas Rep. Jolanda Jones, one of the lawmakers who was in New York. 'Subpoenas from Texas don't work in New York, so he can't come and get us. Subpoenas in Texas don't work in Chicago. ... He's putting up smoke and mirrors.'
The state of the vote
Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member Texas House without at least two-thirds of them present. Democrats hold 62 of the seats in the majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus.
Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the chamber would still meet as planned 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 is running for U.S. Senate, said 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 showing up
A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders had the authority to 'physically compel the attendance' of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served.
Two years later, Republicans pushed through new rules that allow daily fines of US$500 for lawmakers who don't show up for work as punishment.
The lack of a quorum will also delay votes on disaster assistance and new warning systems in the wake of last month's catastrophic floods in Texas that killed at least 136 people. Democrats had called for votes on the flooding response before taking up redistricting and have criticized Republicans for not doing so.
Illinois hosts Texas lawmakers
Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender who has been one of Trump's most outspoken critics during his second term, had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about offering support if they chose to leave the state.
Last week, the governor hosted several Texas Democrats in Illinois to publicly oppose the redistricting effort, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a similar event in his own state.
Pritzker also met privately with Texas Democratic Chair Kendall Scudder in June to begin planning for the possibility that lawmakers would depart for Illinois if they decided to deny a quorum to block the map, according to a person with direct knowledge who requested anonymity to discuss private 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 said Sunday night.
Trump is looking to avoid a repeat of his first term, when Democrats flipped the House just two years into his presidency, and he hopes the new Texas map will aid that effort. Trump officials have also looked at redrawing lines in other states.
___
Joey Cappelletti And Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press
Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.
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