Democratic lawmakers left the state of Texas on Aug. 3 in a dramatic escalation meant to block the consideration of a bill to redraw the state’s congressional maps, intended to increase Republicans’ hold on the lower chamber.
“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” said Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, in a statement.
The move is intended as a last-ditch attempt to block Republicans from holding a vote on legislation to redraw several Democratic districts in the state to be more favorable to Republicans after they alleged previous gerrymandering by the other side. Democrats have threatened such a walkout for weeks to prevent passage of the legislation through the Republican-dominated state government.
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“Apathy is complicity, and we will not be complicit in the silencing of hard-working communities who have spent decades fighting for the power that Trump wants to steal,” Wu said.
It comes as Republicans are moving forward during a special session of the Legislature with a plan to redraw Texas’s congressional maps in line with a demand from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), which has claimed that some of the state’s congressional districts may be illegal.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened consequences ranging from fines to arrests if Democrats left the state.
In a post on X after news that Democrats had left the state broke, Paxton said that Texas should “use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”
“Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,” he wrote.
Under Texas state law, refusing to attend a legislative session is a civil violation, so Democrats can’t legally be jailed for the offense.
The DOJ claims that several Texas congressional districts are “coalition districts,” describing a situation where multiple minority groups are gathered in a single district to such an extent that minority voters make up a majority in the district. Such districts are illegal under the Voting Rights Act.
Trump on July 15 expressed hope that Republicans may be able to pick up as many as five House seats through a “simple redrawing.”
Like its counterparts in other states and the federal government, the Texas Legislature must have a quorum—a sufficient number of lawmakers—to conduct business. In the Lone Star State, two-thirds of lawmakers must be present to conduct any legislative business. That applies to both chambers of the Legislature.
That means 100 members of the 150-member state House must be present. Democrats hold 62 seats in the chamber. At least 51 of these are leaving the state, according to a spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus.
This isn’t the first time Texas Democrats have left the state to prevent consideration of controversial legislation. In 2021, Texas Democrats retreated to Washington, D.C., during a 38-day standoff revolving around election legislation.
Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.