Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will begin trying to remove Democratic lawmakers from office Monday if they do not return after dozens of them left the state in an attempt to block the adoption of redrawn U.S. House maps sought by President Donald Trump.
Abbott suggested, without evidence, that some Democratic legislators who left for Illinois, New York and perhaps elsewhere had “forfeited their seats” and may have committed felonies. The lawmakers said Abbott was using “smoke and mirrors” to make threats that go beyond his legal authority.
The Democratic revolt and Abbott's threat ratcheted up a widening fight over congressional maps that began in Texas but expanded to include Democratic governors who have floated the possibility of rushing to redraw their own state maps in retaliation, even if their options are limited. The dispute also offers another example of Trump’s aggressive view of presidential power and his grip on the Republican Party nationally, while testing the longstanding balance of powers among the federal government and individual states.
At the center of the escalating impasse is Trump’s hope of adding five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas before the 2026 midterm elections. That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its slim U.S. House majority, as Republicans were unable to do in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first presidency. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 seats.
Speaking Monday on Fox News, Abbott essentially admitted to the partisan power play, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined “there is nothing illegal” about shaping districts to a majority party’s advantage. He even openly acknowledged it as “gerrymandering” before correcting himself to say Texas is “drawing lines.”
More than 1,800 miles away from Austin, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats and argued that their cause should be national.
“We’re not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by bunch of law breaking cowboys,” Hochul said Monday, flanked by several of the lawmakers who left Texas. “If Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they’re leaving us with no choice: We must do the same. You have to fight fire with fire.”
A vote on the proposed maps was set for Monday in the Texas House, but it cannot proceed if Democratic members deny a quorum by going to another state, which puts them beyond the reach of Texas law enforcement.
Texas Dems say they are ‘in this for the long haul’
Abbott insisted ahead of the scheduled session that lawmakers have “absconded” in violation of their sworn duties to the state.
“I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state Legislature because they are not doing the job they were elected to do,” he said in the Fox News interview, invoking his state's hallmark machismo to call the lawmakers “un-Texan.”
“Texans don’t run from a fight,” he said.
Democrats said they had no plans to heed the governor's demands to return.
“He has no legal mechanism,” said Texas Rep. Jolanda Jones, one of the lawmakers who was in New York on Monday. “Subpoenas from Texas don’t work in New York, so he can’t come and get us. Subpoenas in Texas don’t work in Chicago. ... He’s putting up smoke and mirrors.”
A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules. As for his threat to remove the lawmakers, Abbott cited a nonbinding legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton amid an partisan quorum dispute in 2021. Paxton suggested a court could determine that a legislator had forfeited their office.
Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate, said on X that Democrats who “try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”
The state of the vote
The lawmakers who left declined to say how long they will hold out.
“The magic of a quorum break is you never telegraph the how long or what you’re going to do,” said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who has served in the Legislature since 2001. “We recognized when we got on the plane that we’re in this for the long haul.”
Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu said his members “will do whatever it takes” but added, “What that looks like, we don’t know.”
Legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, including in 2021 when many of the same Texas House Democrats left the state for 38 days to protest new voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans still passed that measure.
Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member Texas House without at least two-thirds of them present. Democrats hold 62 of the seats in the majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus.
Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the chamber would meet as planned on Monday afternoon. “All options will be on the table,” he posted on X.
The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served. Republicans answered by adopting $500 daily fines for lawmakers who don't show up for work as punishment.
The governor, meanwhile, continues to make unsubstantiated claims that some lawmakers have committed felonies by soliciting money to pay for fines they could face for leaving the state to deny a quorum.
Disaster aid and presidential politics are part of the argument
The lack of a quorum would delay votes on disaster assistance and new warning systems in the wake of last month’s catastrophic floods in Texas that killed at least 136 people. Democrats had called for votes on the flooding response before taking up redistricting and have criticized Republicans for not doing so.
On Fox, Abbott attempted to turn that issue back on Democrats, suggesting their efforts to break a quorum would become the reason for a delayed flood response.
Beyond Texas, some Democrats wants to leverage the fight.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender and outspoken Trump critic, welcomed Texas Democrats on Sunday after having been in quiet talks with them for weeks. Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another potential 2028 contender, held public events about the Texas fight before the quorum break.
“This is not just rigging the system in Texas,” Pritzker said Sunday night. “It’s about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to com.”
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DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas, Barrow from Atlanta and Cappelletti from Washington. Associated Press Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.
Bill Barrow, Andrew Demillo And Joey Cappelletti, The Associated Press
