Texas Democrats Leave State To Block GOP Redistricting Plan — Republicans Move To Issue Civil Arrest Warrants
The Texas State House voted Monday 85-6 to track down and arrest more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left the state over the weekend, aiming to prevent the body from voting on a plan that could eliminate five Democrat-held U.S. House seats.
Their absence deprives the chamber of the 100 members needed to pass the new congressional map during the session Gov. Greg Abbott called to address President Trump’s redistricting request, along with legislation around last month’s devastating floods.
It is an extreme move to delay the vote and call attention to the issue of a mid-decade redrawing of congressional lines — which is usually done after the U.S. Census Bureau counts the population every 10 years — given that Democrats are in the minority in the state.
Abbott had warned that any missing lawmakers may have “forfeited” their offices and could be replaced. The Texas House is set to reconvene at 1 p.m. CT tomorrow.
Mo’ Context: This is just a delay tactic that will likely last days to weeks. Ultimately, Republicans have the votes to pass the new maps, and Democrats are using the few tools they have available to call attention to this issue nationally.
NOW WHAT?
Most Democrats traveled to Chicago, while others flew to New York and Boston to build support. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows on Monday vowed to sign civil arrest warrants for those missing — which only apply within state lines — and called on the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms and state troopers to make arrests.
Abbott also cited a 2021 legal opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton to justify removing the Democrats from office. However, only a court (not the AG) can decide if their absence qualifies as abandoning their post and therefore justifies replacing them.
Lawmakers can face $500/daily fines for not showing up. Abbott suggested that lawmakers accepting outside funds to cover fines could face felony charges under bribery laws.
Texas’s maps already tilt toward Republicans, who hold 25 of Texas’s 38 congressional seats. The proposed map could mean Republicans — who make up about 55% of the vote under current maps — could end up controlling as much as 80% of the state’s congressional seats.
The move comes ahead of the 2026 midterms and would give Republicans a stronger chance at keeping their slim majority in Congress, one reason why Trump backed it.
Democrats and voting rights groups are expected to challenge the new congressional map in court, if it passes.
Democratic Governors Kathy Hochul (NY), JB Pritzker (IL), and Gavin Newsom (CA) are weighing their own type of retaliation: finding ways to redraw their own state maps to favor Democrats. Their immediate options are limited, though.
REWIND: WHAT IS GERRYMANDERING?
Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating electoral maps to favor one party. But how exactly does it work? It’s kind of like slicing a pizza (see video above).
Both Democrats and Republicans have used redistricting to their advantage. In GOP-leaning states, liberal cities can be split up and diluted among larger rural populations — while the opposite can happen in Democratic-leaning states.
Arguments: Democrats say the Texas plan is a racist (it could dilute the Black vote) and partisan power grab. Republicans argue they’re operating within the law and Supreme Court precedent.
Redrawing maps falls under state jurisdiction, not federal. As of 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that only state courts — not federal courts — can step in when there is a perceived instance of gerrymandering. It’s unclear if Texas courts will uphold the maps if passed, and once Democrats or voting rights groups sue.
Rewind: This isn’t the first Democratic walkout in Texas over voting issues. In 2003, lawmakers left the state to try to halt a GOP redistricting effort, and in 2021, lawmakers left to protest new voting restrictions. The provisions were ultimately passed.
READY TO PLAY BALL
New York’s Hochul, speaking alongside some of the Texas lawmakers on Monday, said she’s also exploring ways to redraw her state’s congressional maps, despite recent gerrymandering efforts getting struck down in court.