Texas threatens to arrest runaway Democrats | Political News
Democrats in Texas are leaving the state in a determined attempt to block new congressional maps sought by President Trump – and indignant Republicans have threatened to arrest or expel them in response.
The new maps would give Republicans a higher likelihood of preserving their slender U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterm elections. The dramatic transfer already places Democrats at risk of severe fines and different penalties. Now Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to take away them from the legislature, while the state’s attorney common, Ken Paxton, has threatened to arrest them.
The choice comes as a “last-ditch effort” to stop Republicans who maintain full control of the Texas authorities, from pushing through a uncommon mid-decade redrawing of the congressional map at the direction of Donald Trump.
To conduct business, at least 100 members of the 150-member Texas House have to be in attendance. Democrats maintain 62 of the seats in the majority-Republican chamber.
But according to Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus, at least 51 Democratic members are leaving the state.
Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, in a assertion, “This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity.”
Nisenson said: “Apathy is complicity, and we is not going to be complicit in the silencing of hard-working communities who have spent many years combating for the ability that Trump needs to steal.”
Trump previously urged Texas Republicans to redraw the map to help the party net a handful of seats in the midterms next year. He is looking to avoid a repeat of his first term, when Democrats flipped the House just two years into his presidency, according to the AP.
Last week, Texas Republicans unveiled their planned new U.S. House map that would create five new Republican-leaning seats. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats. By leaving the state, Democrats are looking to block Republicans from the needed quorum to hold votes on the map, which is scheduled for Monday.
Lawmakers who break a Quorum face fines of up to $500 a day in Texas. GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton has said previously that if Democrats break quorum, “they need to be discovered and arrested no matter where they go.”
“My workplace stands prepared to help native, state, and federal authorities in searching down and compelling the attendance of anybody who abandons their workplace and their constituents for low-cost political theater,” Paxton mentioned on the social media platform X on July 15.
Other states are standing behind the Texas Democrats. Many are reportedly heading to Illinois, where Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker had been in quiet talks with them for weeks about offering help if they selected to depart the state to break quorum.
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