Democrats in Texas leave the state in an attempt to prevent the state legislature from voting on a new congressional map on Monday, with Republicans hoping to win some additional US seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
Dramatic Sunday movements are possible Exposes Democrats to fines and other penalties – The state’s attorney general threatened to arrest them if they had previously taken such actions. However, refusing to attend legislative meetings is a civil offence, so Democrats cannot be legally imprisoned, and it is unclear who has the authority to execute the warrant.
Democrats have decided to leave the state as a final ditch effort to stop Republicans who hold full control of the Texas government from pushing forward the unusual medieval redrawing of Congressional maps at President Donald Trump’s direction.
“This is not a decision we disregard, but it is something we make with absolute moral clarity,” House Democrat Caucus Chairman Jean Wu said in a statement.
To carry out the official project, there must be at least 100 members of the Texas home from 150 members. The Democrats own 62 seats in the majority Republican office. At least 51 Democrats have left the state, said House Democrat spokesman Josh Rush Nisenson.
“Indifference is an accomplice and we will not conspire in the silence of the hardworking community that has spent decades of fighting for the power Trump wants to steal,” he said.
This is the second time that Texas Democrats have fled the state to block votes in four years. 2021, a 38 Day Standoff It happened when Democrats left Washington opposed new voting restrictions.
Republican government. Greg Abbott It was called a special session of the council that began last month to take on the constituency change efforts, and responded. Floods in Texas Hill Country It killed at least 135 people in July. Trump has urged Texan Republicans to redraw the map to help the party net a handful of seats in the middle of next year.
Last week, Texas Republicans unveiled a map of a new US home planned to create five new Republican-leaning seats. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats.
By leaving the nation, Democrats are trying to stop Republicans from the required quorum to vote on the map set on Monday. Texas House There are rules For a great MP who costs $500 a day, they break the quorum. GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton has previously said if Democrats defeat quorum, “wherever they go they should find them and be arrested.”
“My office is ready to help local, state and federal authorities hunt and persuade attendees who abandon their offices and their members for cheap political theatres,” Paxton said on social media platform X on July 15th.
Most of the Texas Democrats are heading towards Illinois. There, Democrat Governor J.B. Pretzker had quiet discussions for weeks about providing support if he chose to leave the nation to break the quorum. Pretzker, the 2028 presidential candidate, was one of Trump’s most outspoken critics in his second term.
Last week, Pretzker hosted several Texas Democrats in Illinois, and publicly opposed the constituency efforts. California Governor Gavin Newsom held a similar event in his own state.
Pretzker also meets Texas Democratic Chairman Kendall Scudder personally in June, and will begin plans for the possibility that lawmakers will leave for Illinois if they decide to break the quorum to block the map.
Now, the setting may be set for a famous showdown between Pretzker and the president, as Texas Democrats have drilled holes in Illinois and blocked a Trump-backed map of Congress.
Trump is trying to avoid him repeating it First termDemocrats turn the House of Representatives just two years into his presidency, hopeful that a new Texas map will support that effort. Trump officials have also seen redrawns of other states, such as Missouri, according to people who are well-versed in the conversation but are not allowed to speak publicly about them.
