Democrats absent from Texas House, breaking quorum for 2nd day in a row in effort to block redistricting vote
The Texas House reconvened Tuesday afternoon in Austin after Democratic lawmakers fled the state in an effort to block a redistricting vote. Democratic lawmakers were not in attendance, making it the second day in a row the House hasn't met a quorum.
The House is going to meet again Friday afternoon in an attempt to make a quorum.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton shared a stern warning aimed at the House Democrats if they don't return to the Capitol by Friday: "The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don't show up to work, you get fired."
In a news release, Paxton stated the action of the lawmakers constitutes abandonment of office and that he will pursue a court ruling to ensure their seats are declared vacant.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered the civil arrest of Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to block a vote on a Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan, escalating a standoff that has stalled the legislative session. The House is set to meet at 1 p.m.
Earlier Tuesday morning, Texas Democrats, along with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, met to continue the fight against a redistricting plan that could add five seats favoring Republicans.
The absence of the Democratic lawmakers meant the House did not have a quorum, or the two-thirds majority needed to hold a debate on a bill to redraw the state's congressional districts that could add five seats favoring Republicans. That prompted a Republican-backed motion for their civil arrests to force them to return.
"In response to this dereliction of duty," House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Monday, "in pursuant to the rules of the House, I am prepared to recognize a motion to place a call on the House and any other motions necessary to compel the return of absent members. Should such a motion prevail, I will immediately sign the warrants for the civil arrests of the members who have said they will not be here."
Republican officials effort arresting Democratic lawmakers
Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to "locate, arrest and return any House member who abandoned their duty to Texans;" however, Texas DPS has no jurisdiction out of state. A civil arrest would force the lawmakers back to the Capitol.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he has called on the FBI to "take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state."
Abbott said he'll begin to remove Democratic lawmakers from office if they don't return after dozens of them fled the state in a last-resort attempt to block the redrawing of U.S. House maps that Mr. Trump wants before the 2026 midterm elections, although the legal justification for that is shaky.
Trump weighs in on redistricting battle in Texas
President Trump said the FBI may have to get involved, as it "looks like" Texas Democratic lawmakers have left the state stranded.
"I think they've abandoned the state," the president said. "No one has seen anything like it, even though they've done it twice before. And in a certain way, it looks like they have abandoned the state. It looks very bad ... the governor of Texas is demanding they come back. A lot of people are demanding they come back. You can't just sit it out, you have to fight it out. That's what elections are all about."
Earlier on Tuesday, the president said during an interview with CNBC that Republicans are entitled to five more seats in Texas, the number of seats Republicans expect to pick up if the congressional lines are redrawn.
A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules. 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 that year. Two years later, Republicans pushed through new rules that allow daily fines of $500 for lawmakers who don't show up for work as punishment.
"For everyone that's been asking, where are the Democrats?" said Jasmine Crockett, a Democratic representative from Dallas. "Well, here they are. For everyone who has been asking, where is the fight? Well, here it is. But let me tell you something, don't leave them out on the ledge by themselves."
The quorum break will also delay votes on flood relief 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.
Abbott sues to remove alleged "ringleader" of Democratic walkout from office
Abbott filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to remove one of the state's House Democratic leaders, Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, calling him "the ringleader" of the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who left the state in an effort to block a redistricting vote.
Abbott filed the emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court. The governor claims Wu has forfeited his elected position and that his actions, as well as those of other House Democrats who left the state, "constitute abandonment of their office, justifying their removal."
Abbott has argued in the past that Democrats can be legally removed from office if they don't show up. He's cited a non-binding 2021 opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that said a "district court may determine that a legislator has forfeited his or her office due to abandonment and can remove the legislator from office, thereby creating a vacancy."
But Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor, has told CBS News the only way to remove a Texas lawmaker — other than at the ballot box — is by a two-thirds vote of the legislature.
In a statement to CBS Texas, Wu said that "denying the governor a quorum was not an abandonment" of office, rather it was "a fulfillment of my oath."