On Sunday, Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to expel Democratic lawmakers from the state legislature and substitute them with Republican yes-men who will rubber stamp his plan to rig the 2026 midterms by re-gerrymandering Texas’ congressional map.
Abbott made the risk after many of the state’s 62 Democratic lawmakers left Texas to disclaim Republicans a quorum—a transfer that will block GOP lawmakers from passing a brand new gerrymandered congressional map that may steal as many as 5 U.S. Home seats. Abbott known as a particular session to get the Republican-controlled legislature to redraw congressional districts on the demand of Pricey Chief Donald Trump, who’s so petrified of dropping the midterm elections that he is attempting to cheat and rig them as a substitute.
“My Democratic colleagues and I just left the state of Texas to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab,” Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico mentioned in a publish on social media on Sunday. “Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections right before our eyes. But first he’ll have to come through us. It’s time to fight back.”
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My Democratic colleagues and I simply left the state of Texas to interrupt quorum and cease Trump’s redistricting energy seize.
Trump is attempting to rig the midterm elections proper earlier than our eyes. However first he’ll have to come back by means of us.
It’s time to battle again.
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— James Talarico (@jamestalarico.bsky.social) August 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
State Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the Home Democratic Caucus, mentioned the transfer is a troublesome one for Democrats—who now face a $500 per day tremendous. However he mentioned it was the fitting factor to do.
“Republicans are counting on us to quietly accept Trump’s demands, but we refuse to put Abbott’s political ambitions before the needs of our communities,” Wu mentioned. “By breaking quorum, we’re putting an end to this corrupt special session. Texans deserve leaders who fight for them, not politicians chasing power.”
The ingenious transfer has enraged Abbott, who with out a quorum can not perform the desire of Pricey Chief.
“Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business. That amounts to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office,” Abbott wrote in an announcement.
He went on to quote a BS memo from corrupt and morally bankrupt state Lawyer Common Ken Paxton, which claims that “by means of a quo warranto motion, a district court docket could decide {that a} legislator has forfeited his or her workplace on account of abandonment and may take away the legislator from workplace, thereby making a emptiness.”
“That empowers me to swiftly fill vacancies under Article III, Section 13 of the Texas Constitution,” Abbott wrote.
After all, none of that’s truly true.
An opinion from the state lawyer common isn’t a legally binding doctrine. And Article III, Part 13 of the Texas Structure does NOT state that Abbott can fill a emptiness within the legislature with out an election. The Structure says Abbott must subject “writs of election to fill such vacancies.”
However Abbott went additional than mendacity about his capacity to expel lawmakers and substitute them himself. Abbott additionally threatened to cost the Democratic lawmakers with felonies, accusing them of “soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules.”
“Any Democrat who ‘solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept’ such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws,” Abbott wrote.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker
The Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas are actually in Illinois, the place Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker mentioned he’ll “do everything we can to protect every single one of them.”
“We know they’re doing the right thing,” Pritzker mentioned. “We know they’re following the law. It’s Ken Paxton who doesn’t follow the law. It’s the leaders of Texas who aren’t following the law.”
The Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee can be standing by the Texas Democratic lawmakers.
“House Democrats stand in solidarity with every single lawmaker who has taken the difficult step to deny a quorum to stop the rigged map,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene mentioned in an announcement. “Republicans should also know that the fight to preserve our democracy is one that Democrats across the country are ready for. The DCCC will not stand aside while Donald Trump and House Republicans try to steal the 2026 election. With public opinion turning against the Republican record of broken promises, we will fight across the country to take back the majority, restoring the will of the people back to the People’s House.”
In the meantime, the Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas had a succinct message for the Republicans attempting to scare them into returning to the state.
“Come and take it,” they wrote in an announcement.
