UPDATED 1:05 P.M.
(Reuters) -Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to replace Democratic lawmakers who left the state over the weekend unless they return by Monday afternoon to vote on a Republican plan to redraw its congressional districts.
The more than 50 Democratic members of the Texas legislature left the state on Sunday to deny Republicans the quorum necessary to vote on the redistricting plan, which President Donald Trump has championed, and which he and his Republicans hope will protect the party’s narrow U.S. House majority in next year’s midterm elections.
Republicans hold a 219-212 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, with three Democratic-held seats vacant after deaths, and one Republican hold vacant after a member resigned. A stronger Republican majority in the House would enable the president to further advance his agenda.
Abbott in a statement late on Sunday cited a Texas attorney general opinion that district courts may determine whether legislators have forfeited their offices “due to abandonment,” saying that empowered him to “swiftly fill vacancies.”
The governor said in the statement he would use that power against any Democrats who were absent when the Texas legislature reconvenes at 3 p.m. Central Time (2000 GMT) on Monday.
In addition to acting on the redistricting plan, Abbott called the special legislative session to address funding for flood prevention and relief in the wake of the deadly July 4 flash flooding that killed more than 130 people.
Upon arriving in Chicago on Sunday evening with several other Democratic lawmakers, Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, slammed his Republican counterparts for pushing the redistricting plan alongside a flood-related bill.
“Governor Abbott has used this tragedy, taken these families who are grieving… and used them as hostages in a political game,” he said at a press conference, flanked by Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Other Democratic lawmakers went to New York and Massachusetts.
Wu called the redistricting plan “racist,” saying it sought to dilute the voting power of racial minorities in the state. “Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump, so that Donald Trump could steal these communities’ power and voice,” he added.
Abbott in a Monday morning appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” said Wu’s accusation was “bogus”. He said the redistricting would expand the number of Hispanic-majority districts and that it was necessary to give Trump voters in Democrat-majority districts the ability to elect Republican U.S. representatives.
A White House official told Reuters that Trump supports Abbott’s threat to remove absent Democratic lawmakers and wants “whatever is necessary” done to get the new map passed. Trump has told reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans.
States are required to redistrict every 10 years based on the U.S. Census, but the current Texas map was passed just four years ago by the Republican-dominated legislature. While mid-cycle redistricting occasionally takes place, it is usually prompted by a change in power at the legislature.
Leaders of Democrat-led states such as California and Illinois have recently raised the idea of redistricting their own U.S. congressional maps to boost the number of Democratic seats in response to Abbott’s push in Texas.
Under Texas’ current lines, Republicans control 25 out of 38 seats, nearly two-thirds of the districts in a state that went for Trump last year by a 56% to 42% margin.
Texas Democratic lawmakers have before tried the strategy of leaving the state to block a redistricting plan. Some fled in 2021 in a similar bid to deny Abbott the quorum needed to pass a voting restriction measure. That bill passed after three of the lawmakers returned, saying they had achieved their goal of bringing national attention to the issue.
(Reporting by Julia Harte in New York, Nandita Bose in Washington, and Eric Cox in Chicago, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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(Reuters) -Democratic lawmakers in Texas said on Sunday they were leaving the state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to redraw the state’s 38 congressional districts, a move Republicans are seeking to protect their narrow U.S. House majority in next year’s midterm elections.
President Donald Trump has championed the redistricting plan, telling reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans. Republicans hold a narrow 220-212 majority in the House of Representatives, with three Democratic-held seats vacant after members’ deaths.
In a video shot in front of an airport, Democratic Representative James Talarico said the redistricting plan amounted to “rigging” the 2026 elections.
“If you’re seeing this video, my Democratic colleagues and I have just left our beloved state to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab,” Talarico said in the video posted on X on Sunday.
Several other Texas Democrats said on X they were headed to Illinois, whose governor is Democrat J.B. Pritzker.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement late Sunday that any Democrat House member who did not return would be removed from the Texas House.
“Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business”, the Governor said in his statement, adding that leaving amounted to an abandonment of the office.
States are required to redistrict every 10 years based on the U.S. Census but the Texas map was passed just four years ago by the Republican-dominated legislature. While mid-cycle redistricting occasionally takes place, it is usually prompted by a change in power at the legislature.
Republicans have pursued redistricting in a special legislative session that will also address funding for flood prevention in the wake of the deadly July 4 flash flooding that killed more than 130.
Under the current lines, Republicans control 25 seats, nearly two-thirds of the districts in a state that went for Trump last year by a 56% to 42% margin.
Redistricting experts have said the plan could backfire if Republicans try to squeeze too many seats out of what is already considered a significantly skewed map.
(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Jasper Ward; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Benagluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Saad Sayeed)
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