Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to find and arrest the Democrats who fled the state over redistricting.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to find and arrest the Democrats who fled the state over redistricting.
Texas House Republicans on Monday voted 85-6 to authorize the House sergeant-at-arms and related officers to track down and civilly arrest Democrats who fled the state in protest of GOP redistricting efforts.
“The sergeant-at-arms and any officers appointed by her are directed to send for all absentees whose attendance is not excused for the purposes of securing and maintaining their attendance under warrant of arrest, if necessary, until further order of the House,” said Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows, the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
Shortly after the vote, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to find and arrest the Democrats who fled the state, an order which will remain in effect until they are “accounted for and brought back” to Austin.
The warrants, however, have no power outside state lines and it’s unclear to what extent, if at all, Texas law enforcement may and could coordinate with their counterparts in the relevant states.
Later Monday, Abbott said he had asked the Texas Rangers to investigate the Democrats who left the state for potential law violations — including bribery for soliciting funds to support their effort.
“Reports indicate that many absentee Texas House Democrats have solicited or received funds to evade conducting legislative business and casting votes. Under the Texas Penal Code, any of those Democrats who solicit, accept, or agree to accept such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws. Also, it could be a bribery violation for any other person who offers, provides, or agrees to provide such funds to fleeing Democrat House members,” the governor said in a statement.
The move comes amid a showdown over a Republican-led effort, backed by President Donald Trump, to create a new congressional map with control of the U.S. House potentially at stake.
Abbott had given Texas House Democrats a deadline of 3 p.m. local time on Monday to return to the statehouse for the special session or risk losing their jobs. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suggested Democrats who left should be arrested and forcibly brought back, though he later admitted that would be a “challenge.”
Paxton said in a statement late Monday afternoon that he is “prepared to do everything in my power” to hold the Democrats accountable for abdicating their duties in the House and for having “sacrificed their constituents for a publicity stunt.”
The response from the Texas House Democratic Caucus to Abbott’s threat was, “Come and take it.”
Texas House members who left the state were slated to hold various events throughout the day Monday in Democrat-led states.
The proposed congressional map could create up to five new Republican seats and help the party keep control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections. Consideration of the bill had been set for Monday, but couldn’t proceed as the missing Democrats denied a quorum.
Democrats hold events in New York, Massachusetts and Illinois
The first news conference with Texas Democrats on Monday was with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in Albany. Hochul’s message for Texas House Democrats was, “You are on the right side of history. And you’re not alone.”
“As I said, history will judge us and how we respond to this moment. But here in New York, we will not stand on the sidelines with the timid souls on the sidelines who don’t care and will not invest their heart and soul into this battle. This is a war,” Hochul continued. “We are at war and that’s why the gloves are off. And I say, bring it on.”
Hochul said that she would seek to disband or change New York’s independent redistricting commission through a constitutional amendment in response to Texas — but admitted that doing so would not be possible before the 2028 election. Under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Yorkers passed a constitutional amendment in 2014 prohibiting partisan redistricting.
Texas House Democrats who have gone to Massachusetts for the National Conference of State Legislators summit will hold a press conference in Boston on Monday afternoon. Then, Texas House Democrats who have gathered in Illinois will hold a press conference with Democratic members of Congress in Chicago on Monday night.
Texas State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, spoke with ABC News from Illinois and confirmed he plans to stay out of the state for the remaining two weeks of the special session.
“To be gone from my family, from my state, is not a happy thing for me. But why I am doing this is because the Republicans are trying to change the rules of the game midway through the decade,” Talarico told ABC News Correspondent Jay O’Brien.
Talarico also characterized the Republican redistricting effort as a ploy by Trump to rig the election.
“It is rock bottom for people like Greg Abbott and Donald Trump. Sadly, I’ve come to expect nothing less from them, but it is still immoral and disgusting and outrageous, and we should all reject it regardless of our political party,” Talarico added.
Abbott, Paxton threaten action against Democrats
Abbott, in his warning to Texas House Democrats, said leaving the state in protest amounted to “abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office.”
The governor said if they didn’t return by 3 p.m. local time on Monday, he would invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House. He further went on to claim the lawmakers who left “may also have committed felonies” by fundraising in order to pay the $500 fine they risk accruing each day they are absent.
“Our fellow Texans are being let down and not getting the flood relief they need, because these Democrats have absconded from the responsibility, and I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state legislature because they’re not doing the job they were elected to do,” Abbott said during an interview with Fox News on Monday.
Paxton, in a social media post, wrote that “Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately. We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”
What’s at stake
The new congressional map was proposed by Texas Republicans following a push by Trump for maps more favorable to Republicans to help the party keep the majority in the House in 2026. Currently, House Republicans are operating with a narrow majority.
Trump has said he wants Republicans to pick up five new seats in Texas and others around the country. Democrats have slammed the move and said it risks hurting minority voters.
Asked by Fox News why he is pushing for new districts, Abbott said it is partly to dismantle “coalition districts” (where racial minority groups together make up most of the population) and to redraw districts based on political considerations.
“Gerrymandering can be done or drawing lines can be done on the basis of political makeup, as in Republican versus Democrat, and there’s nothing illegal about that,” Abbott said. “And then when you look at the outcome of the most recent presidential election, all these districts that are being added are districts that were won by Trump.”
Texas’ redistricting effort has prompted some Democrat-led states to investigate similar moves to “fight fire with fire,” as California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said. Newsom is considering calling a special session on redistricting in November to make the state’s congressional map more Democrat-friendly. Newsom said Monday that California Democrats have or are nearly done with a draft of a new map.
“Whatever they are doing [in Texas] will be neutered here in the state of California, and they will pay that price,” Newsom said.
As the redistricting battle heats up, a House Republican will introduce legislation to ban mid-decade redrawing of congressional maps nationwide.
California GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley will formally introduce the bill on Tuesday which will “nullify new maps adopted by states before the 2030 census, including any that are adopted this year.” The bill’s future remains uncertain, however, as it’s unlikely to be backed by House Republican leadership.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.