More than 50 Texas House Democrats fled the state on Sunday to stop a redistricting vote that could hand Republicans five new Congressional seats in the upcoming midterms.
The Texas Constitution mandates that two-thirds of the House be present to constitute a quorum for conducting legislative business. With 150 members in the Texas House of Representatives, this means at least 100 lawmakers must be present. According to Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus, “at least 51 Democratic members have left the state—effectively denying the chamber the quorum required to proceed.”
In a Sunday statement, Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said, “We’re leaving Texas to fight for Texans. We’re not walking out on our responsibilities; we’re walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent.”
According to The Hill, “Breaking quorum … means that each lawmaker incurs a daily penalty of $500 and the possibility of being arrested.”
The lawmakers flew to Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts. Flanked by those who bolted to his state, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker vowed during a Sunday night press conference to protect the Texas Democrats from arrest. He told reporters:
They’re here in Illinois. We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that — ’cause we know they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law.It’s Ken Paxton who doesn’t follow the law. It’s the leaders of Texas who are attempting not to follow the law. They’re the ones that need to be held accountable.
Pritzker was referring to threats from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, who wrote in a post on X that the Texas Democrats “should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately. We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is scheduled to meet with Texas lawmakers who arrived in her state on Monday morning.
Texas State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D) told the Hill, “This is wrong, this is un-American, and this is undemocratic. And America, we need to wake up. Republicans are stealing our democracy right before our very eyes.”
Yes, it is a politically motivated power play, but it’s not as though Democrats haven’t engaged in similar — if not worse — tactics when given the chance. And it is legal.
On Sunday night, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement which said in part:
This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus responded in a statement, “Come and take it.”
It’s unclear if Abbott has the power to remove the lawmakers from office as a CNN political analyst points out below.
In a rather amusing development, Fox News reported that the Republicans’ new map would move obnoxious Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s home out of her district. According to Fox, “Crockett said she was asked to verify her address before Republicans unveiled the congressional redistricting proposal.”
State lawmakers throughout the country have tried this tactic before, and, in most cases, it didn’t work out particularly well. Typically, it only appears to delay the inevitable.
The Associated Press reported that Texas Democrats fled to Washington, D.C. in 2021 over legislation to enact voting restrictions.
While initially successful in killing the measure, they couldn’t block the plan again during a special session when Republicans had law enforcement issue civil arrest warrants to bring Democrats back. The stalemate lasted more than a month. The bill prohibited 24-hour polling sites, banned drive-through voting and gave more access to partisan poll watchers.Democrats in the state used the same tactic in 2003, when House members went to Oklahoma and senators traveled to New Mexico. They failed to thwart a Republican congressional redistricting plan.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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