Democrat who fled Texas over redistricting says "we're willing to face whatever consequences"

CBS News

a day ago

Three Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas to block an effort to redraw the state's congressional maps to favor Republicans told CBS News on Monday they're prepared to stay out of the state for at least the next two weeks — as GOP leaders threaten consequences.
Dozens of Texas House Democrats headed to Illinois and other blue states over the weekend, denying the chamber's GOP leaders a quorum on Monday. The move has at least temporarily derailed a special legislative session called by Gov. Greg Abbott to reshape the state's U.S. House district maps — after President Trump publicly encouraged Texas Republicans to create five more GOP-leaning House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.
One of the Democrats who left Texas for Illinois — state Rep. John Bucy III — told CBS News "we've all committed" to staying out of the state until the end of the legislative session. Special sessions can last up to 30 days, and just over two weeks are left in the current session.
But if the clock runs out without a vote on the new House maps, Abbott has the power to immediately call another legislative session, state Rep. Ann Johnson acknowledged.
If that happens, Democrats will "assess our options," state Rep. James Talarico said.
The map that was floated by Texas Republicans last week could, if approved, tilt as many as 30 of the state's 38 U.S. House districts toward Republicans, which currently hold 25 districts. The map redraws two Democratic seats in the Rio Grande Valley, combines two seats in the Austin area and rearranges districts in the Houston and Dallas areas.
The GOP-dominated state House voted Monday to compel the absent Democrats to return to Texas, including by issuing civil arrest warrants. Meanwhile, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to "arrest and return" the Democratic members and investigate them for "bribery" because they accepted donations to help pay for their time in other states. Abbott has also suggested there's a legal path to remove any absent Democrats from office.
It's unclear whether those efforts to arrest lawmakers are enforceable outside of Texas.
"If you choose to continue down this road, you should know there will be consequences," Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican, said during a brief speech Monday afternoon, after the House was unable to establish a quorum.
"The absconded Democrat House members were elected to meet and vote on legislation — not to prevent votes that may not go their way," Abbott said in an earlier statement.
Talarico told CBS News that House Democrats "knew there would be consequences."
"We are fighting for representative democracy, and whether or not that will continue, and so we're willing to face whatever consequences may come our way," he said.
In addition to redistricting, Abbott called a special session last month to handle other high-profile legislative priorities, like approving disaster relief for the deadly Texas floods. Texas Republicans and Democrats have both accused each other of holding disaster relief hostage.
"Greg Abbott is prioritizing Donald Trump with this special session," Bucy told CBS News. "Instead of taking action to help the flood victims of Central Texas, he is prioritizing trying to steal five congressional seats from the people of Texas."
Johnson rejected accusations by Republicans that Democratic lawmakers had abandoned their work, saying they were exercising "the fundamental protection by our founding fathers in the Texas Constitution that says the minority party has the opportunity to break quorum when you know that the majority has really gone off the rails."
This isn't the first time Democrats have fled Texas to deny Republicans a two-thirds quorum in the state House or Senate. In 2021, House Democrats left the state to block a vote on a restrictive voting law, but the walkout came to an end after just over a month, and a version of the bill ended up passing.
When asked how this week's walkout would be different, Talarico argued the 2021 effort was successful because some of the most controversial provisions of the voting law — like limits to Sunday voting — were ultimately taken out of the legislation.
"This is an effective tool in our toolbox to fight for our constituents and make harmful legislation less dangerous. We're hopeful that's what will happen here," he said.
Some of the Texas Democrats want blue states to threaten to retaliate by redrawing their congressional maps to add more Democratic districts. The governors of California and New York have entertained the idea of carrying out redistricting to eke out more blue seats, but those moves could be legally difficult, since California has put an independent commission in charge of redistricting and New York bans political gerrymandering.
All three Texas House Democrats who spoke with CBS News — Talarico, Bucy and Johnson — told CBS News they don't support gerrymandering in general. But Talarico said that "if one side is going to cheat, all bets are off, and maybe that kind of pressure will convince our Republican colleagues and the president to walk back from the brink."
"Democrats and Republican politicians both gerrymander and it's wrong in both instances," Talarico said, but "this is particularly egregious."
"This is kind of like the bully that takes your lunch money every day. At some point, you got to stand up, otherwise you just end up broke and hungry," Johnson said. "We've told Republicans, 'enough — you've gone way too far.'"