Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers skipped town on Sunday in an extraordinary maneuver seeking to prevent a redistricting attempt pushed by President Donald Trump.
By heading out of state, the lawmakers effectively denied the Republican-led state House the quorum needed to conduct business, temporarily halting the effort to redraw congressional maps.
A vote on the draft map—which could give five additional seats to the GOP in next year’s midterms—had been scheduled for Monday as part of a special session that began on July 21.
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Texas typically redraws its districts once every ten years, making the attempt to do so in a mid-decade special session unusual. The agenda, set by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, also included disaster relief and other items addressing last month’s deadly floods.
“Breaking quorum is not a decision we take lightly,” the Texas House Democrats said in a statement on X. “However, when Governor Abbott chooses to withhold critical flood relief in order to advance a partisan agenda at the request of Donald Trump, we are left with no choice. He had ample opportunity to prioritize disaster recovery earlier in the session but instead chose to play political games.”
The group characterized the redistricting attempt as an “assault on our democracy.”
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said: “Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a historic tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump.”
“He is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal,” Wu said.
Abbott slammed Democrats on Sunday night for what he called “abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business.” He threatened Democrats who do not return by Monday afternoon with removal from office.
Most Democrats who fled Texas headed to Chicago on Sunday, while others headed to New York and Boston. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, is providing support to those staying in his state while Gov. Kathy Hochul will meet with a group in New York.
“We are very pleased to welcome you and to stand in solidarity with you and send a clear message to all Americans: we will not let power go unchecked or let your voices and their voices go unheard,” Pritzker said in a press conference Sunday night with Texas Democrats, noting that he’d been in touch with them for months about the redistricting concerns.
“Texas Democrats were left no choice but to leave their home state, block a vote from taking place and protect their constituents,” he said.
He said his state would do “everything we can” to protect the Democrats.
State Rep. Ron Reynolds shared images of himself preparing to board a plane, saying he was “proud to follow the footsteps of my ancestors and Congressman John Lewis in making some #goodtrouble.” Rep. Sheryl Cole said she was headed to Chicago “to stop this rigged-redistricting process.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Abbott was initially resistant to the idea of a mid-decade redistricting, but put it on the special session agenda following pressure from Trump, The Texas Tribune reported last month.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a loyal MAGA follower, threatened punitive action against Democrats.
“Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,” he wrote on X.
“We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”
The Texas GOP said the “stunt to cut quorum” was a “transparent attempt to weaponize chaos and rewrite reality.”
“While Texas Republicans are working to ensure fair and lawful redistricting that reflects the will of Texans, Democrats are choosing obstruction over representation, denying voters their voice to score political headlines,” a statement said, echoing Paxton’s call to “hunt down” those who violated the rules.
The Democratic lawmakers could face $500-a-day fines or arrest warrants for violating the House rules. Republicans imposed stricter penalties in 2023 after Democrats conducted a similar walkout in 2021.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries fired back at Paxton, accusing him of hypocrisy.
“Republicans are afraid to face voters in a free and fair election,” the Democrat posted on X. “That’s the reason the extremists want to gerrymander the Texas congressional map and steal five seats. Look in the mirror and you’ll see the face of a coward.”
The Democratic National Committee also threw its weight behind the state lawmakers, with chair Ken Martin saying in a statement that the DNC would “fight alongside them to stop this anti-democratic assault.”
