With virtually no options left, Texas House Democrats left the state Sunday to put the brakes on the Republican-led effort to redraw the state’s congressional map.
The redrawing of the map in districts in predominantly Democratic and Black and Hispanic areas in South Houston, Dallas and Austin, is part of President Donald Trump’s plan to gain five more congressional seats in Texas going into next year’s mid-term elections. Three districts in Houston would be affected, including District 18, which was recently held by the late Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner.
The redistricting scheme, which is at the forefront of the current special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott, would eliminate five Democratic seats in the US House, allowing the Republicans to maintain a small majority lead. However, with the Democrats walking out and leaving the state ahead of the vote, the House won’t have a quorum, which effectively blocks the redistricting plan for now.
The Texas Democrats have been fact-gathering for weeks now in hopes of preventing Abbott’s redistricting plans, but with the Republicans holding the majority needed to redraw the lines, fleeing the state for Chicago, Albany and New York was the only recourse at this point. Redistricting is supposed to take place every 10 years after the Census numbers are in, but Abbott is strategically moving ahead early to give Trump the five additional seats he desires.
“We’re leaving Texas to fight for Texans,” Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement. “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.”
The Republicans responded to the move with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton saying Sunday evening, “Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”
The Republicans can impose a $500 per day fine on each lawmaker who has left the state, money which will have to be paid out of their own pockets.
“We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law,” Paxton said in a post on X, though he did not specify which tools could be used.
Texas Democrats left the state for Washington, D.C., four years ago over a proposal for voting restrictions. The exodus worked temporarily in killing the measure, but the Democrats failed to block the plan again during a special session once the Republicans had law enforcement issue arrest warrants to force the Democrats to return home.
The Democrats also fled the state in 2003.
