Things to know about legislator walkouts as Texas Democrats flee state over a high-stakes map vote
The walkout lets the minority party keep Republicans in charge from having enough votes for maps that would add five new Republican-leaning congressional districts. The proposed boundaries slice up Democratic-leaning urban centers where most of the state's 30 million people live.
Though such theatrics are uncommon, both parties have used walkouts to deny quorum in state Legislatures from Oregon to New Hampshire. In some places, walking off the job, whether for a day or months at a time, has led to punishments like fines, arrest threats or being booted from the ballot.
'We're leaving Texas to fight for Texans,' Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement Sunday. 'We're not walking out on our responsibilities; we're walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent.'
Here's a closer look at how lawmakers around the country have used walkouts.
Texas
Four years ago, Texas Democrats walked off the job over a proposal for voting restrictions and fled to Washington D.C.
While initially successful in killing the measure, they couldn't block the plan again during a special session when Republicans had law enforcement issue civil arrest warrants to bring Democrats back. The stalemate lasted more than a month. The bill prohibited 24-hour polling sites, banned drive-through voting and gave more access to partisan poll watchers.
Democrats in the state used the same tactic in 2003, when House members went to Oklahoma and senators traveled to New Mexico. They failed to thwart a Republican congressional redistricting plan.
Oregon
Oregon legislators in both parties have boycotted daily sessions to halt work in one or both chambers since the 1970s. After several GOP walkouts, voters in 2022 approved an amendment to the state constitution barring lawmakers from seeking reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences in a single annual legislative session.
In 2023, Republicans staged a six-week boycott — the longest in the Oregon Legislature's history — over measures protecting abortion rights and gender-affirming care for transgender people. Ten lawmakers were barred from seeking reelection the following year.
New Hampshire
In 2021, New Hampshire Democrats walked out when an anti-abortion bill came up for a vote, protesting what they saw as a partisan manipulation of the calendar. That prompted the Republican House speaker to lock the doors to maintain a quorum.
'I'm locking the doors right now so everybody in the chamber will stay in the chamber!' shouted House Speaker Sherman Packard, who later refused to let Democrats back in to vote on the bill.
Wisconsin
Democratic state senators from Wisconsin fled to neighboring Illinois in 2011, blocking a vote on GOP Gov. Scott Walker's plan to strip most public workers of their union rights. At the same time, pro-union protesters descended on the state Capitol.
The stalemate ended several weeks later after Republicans weakened their legislation.
Indiana
Indiana Democrats left the state for Illinois in 2011 to prevent a Republican bill prohibiting mandatory labor union fees. The absence of Democrats left the House short of the two-thirds needed for a quorum.
Democrats threatened to stay in Illinois until they received assurances from top leaders that the bills would not be called, while Republican leaders said they wouldn't negotiate with legislators who didn't show up to their jobs.
Republicans successfully passed the bill the following year.
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