Democratic state legislators fled Texas on Sunday in an try to deny a quorum to Republicans hoping to vote on a brand new congressional map that closely favors the GOP much more than present districts.
“For two weeks, while families in the Hill Country mourned the loss of over 130 Texans in catastrophic floods, Democrats fought to make their relief the legislature’s top priority. Instead, Governor Abbott and Republican leadership used the tragedy as political cover,” Texas Home Democrats mentioned in a press release Sunday.
“… Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. We will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander. As of today, this corrupt special session is over,” the assertion mentioned.
Democratic Nationwide Committee Chair Ken Martin mentioned in a press release, “For too long, Donald Trump and Republicans have tried to get away with rigging the system, breaking the rules, and scheming to hold onto power. It’s time to fight back.”
Republicans unveiled the brand new maps earlier this week as a part of a mid-decade redistricting in an try to guard the GOP’s razor-thin U.S. Home majority. President Trump mentioned in July that he believes Republicans may win 5 extra seats in Texas with totally different districts.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott included redistricting to be addressed in a particular legislative session, together with different high-profile subjects like approving catastrophe aid for the lethal Texas floods and a THC ban.
“For weeks, we’ve been warning that if Republicans in Texas want a showdown — if they want to delay flood relief to cravenly protect Donald Trump from an inevitable midterm meltdown — then we’d give them that showdown,” Martin mentioned.
Each homes of the Texas legislature are managed by Republicans, but when most Democratic lawmakers depart the state, they might deny the state Home and Senate the two-thirds quorum that they should vote on the brand new congressional maps.
At the least 51 Texas Democrats have fled the state for Chicago. Politico was first to report the lawmakers had left the state.
Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico speaks throughout a rally to protest towards redistricting hearings on the Texas Capitol, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
Eric Homosexual / AP
Republicans in Texas presently maintain 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats. The get together hopes the brand new maps may convey that quantity as much as 30, and all of these new 30 seats have been received by Mr. Trump in November by at the very least 10 factors.
The 5 seats come from redrawing Rio Grande Valley districts — the place Mr. Trump has made features in what have been as soon as Democratic strongholds — and mixing Reps. Lloyd Doggett and Greg Cesar’s districts in Austin. In North Texas, Rep. Julie Johnson’s suburban thirty second District could be reshaped to stretch from the Dallas space to rural Republican strongholds, and Rep. Marc Veasey could be moved out of Tarrant County completely, which would depart solely a small portion of the county represented by a Democrat. All 4 Houston-area seats have been redrawn, with Rep. Al Inexperienced’s being probably the most dramatic.
“They’re turning our districts into crazy shapes to guarantee the outcome they want in the 2026 election,” Democratic state Rep. James Talarico mentioned in a message posted to social media. “If this power grab succeeds, they will hang on to power without any accountability from the voters.”
Democrats have fought again towards the brand new districts, with Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries touring to Austin on Thursday to pledge nationwide assist.
“We are not fighting for the Democratic Party, we are fighting for the democratic process, and the stakes could not be higher. We have to take a stand,” Talarico added.
Martin mentioned in an look Sunday on MSNBC, “I’m proud of the Texas Dems for actually breaking quorum here. Our democracy is literally under assault by Donald Trump, Greg Abbott and the Republicans, who know that they are on a track to lose the House majority next year. So what do they do? They cheat. They rigged the system. That’s all they have left.”
“We’re certainly going to be standing with folks who will be litigating this in the courts,” Martin added. “We will continue to organize on the ground in Texas, and we will continue to support the House Dems, as they have broke quorum right now.”
This isn’t the primary time Democrats have left the state to disclaim Republicans a quorum — and never the primary time they’ve completed it to protest redistricting. Through the landmark 2005 mid-decade redistricting, Texas Democrats fled throughout two separate particular classes to cease the redistricting. However the redistricting ultimately did undergo. And in 2023, Republicans handed laws that levies a $500-a-day superb on lawmakers who depart the state.
The final important quorum break within the Texas Home was in 2021, when Democrats fled the state to stop a restrictive voting invoice from passing.
Final month, Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton threatened to help police in “hunting down and compelling the attendance” of any Democratic lawmakers who depart the state to dam votes in the course of the particular session.
“If Democrats ignore their duty to their constituents by breaking quorum, they should be found and arrested no matter where they go,” mentioned Paxton, who can be operating for the GOP nomination in subsequent 12 months’s Senate race.
Extra from CBS Information
