Lawmakers travel to Illinois, New York and elsewhere to stop vote on Republicans\u2019 redistricting plan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Texas<\/a> Democrats<\/a> in the state legislature denied Republicans <\/strong>a legislative quorum on Monday by leaving the state, preventing, at least for now, plans proposed by the White House to aggressively redistrict Texas\u2019s congressional lines in their favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the legislature gaveled in at 3pm local time on Monday, Republicans fell short of a quorum by eight votes after Democrats fled to Illinois<\/a>, a legislative conference in Boston, New York and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an extraordinary escalation, the state\u2019s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, said he he had ordered the Texas<\/a> department of public safety to \u201clocate, arrest and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are consequences for dereliction of duty,\u201d Abbott said in a statement on Monday, after the Republican-dominated House issued civil arrest warrants in an attempt to compel the return of the members who fled. \u201cThis order will remain in effect until all missing Democrat House members are accounted for and brought to the Texas Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enforcing Abbott\u2019s order will be difficult, however, because Democrats<\/a> who left the state are beyond the jurisdiction of Texas authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats hold 62 of the 150 seats in the legislature\u2019s lower chamber, so as long as at least 51 members remain out of Austin, the Texas legislature cannot move forward with any votes, including a plan sought by Donald Trump to redraw the state\u2019s congressional maps to give Republicans<\/a> five more seats in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Texas speaker, Representative Dustin Burrows, adjourned the house until 1pm on Tuesday after issuing a call for absent lawmakers and threatening their arrest. He cited pending legislation on flood relief and human trafficking \u2013 and not the contentious redistricting proposal before the chamber \u2013 in his call for Democrats to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInstead of confronting those challenges, some of our colleagues have fled the state in their duty,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cThey\u2019ve left the state, abandoned their posts and turned their backs on the constituents they swore to represent. They\u2019ve shirked their responsibilities under the direction and pressure of out-of-state politicians and activists who don\u2019t know the first thing about what\u2019s right for Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats pushed back forcefully, accusing Abbott of calling a special session at Trump\u2019s behest rather than prioritizing disaster relief in the aftermath of the catastrophic floods that killed 135 people in central Texas last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI never thought as a Texan, as an elected member of the Texas House of Representatives, and now as an elected member from Texas to the United States House of Representatives, that I would see the governor of the proud state of Texas bend a knee to a felon from New York,\u201d Texas congresswoman Julie Johnson taunted Abbott during a press conference in Illinois. \u201cNever thought I\u2019d see the day, but here we are\u200b.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnson, whose district would be radically reshaped if Texas Republicans succeed, spoke alongside members of the Illinois congressional delegation as well as several of the state representatives who left Texas on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTexas House Democrats know how to fight,\u201d said Texas state representative Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez. \u201cOur sleeves are rolled up, and we\u2019re ready to take this fight wherever it\u2019s going to take us, because our communities, our state and our nation is definitely worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who fled his own impeachment hearings and refused a court order to release his travel records after speaking at the rally in Washington that preceded the January 6 insurrection, has described wayward Democratic legislators as \u201ccowards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaker Burrows said the house would not sit quietly. \u201cWhile you obstruct the work of the people, the people of Texas are watching and so is the nation, and if you choose to continue down this road, you should know there will be consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Texas House Democratic Caucus said in response<\/a>: \u201cCome and take it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are not fighting for the Democratic party,\u201d state representative James Talarico said in a video message<\/a> recorded at an airport. \u201cWe are fighting for the democratic process, and the stakes could not be higher. We have to take a stand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few dozen protesters gathered in front of the governor\u2019s mansion in Austin on Monday to protest the Republicans\u2019 hasty rewriting of the state\u2019s congressional districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Led by Democratic congressmen Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett, protesters marched back and forth across the parking lot in front of the gates of the governor\u2019s mansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking into a bullhorn, Casar, a leading progressive, praised state Democrats for fleeing the state to deny Republicans the quorum they need to pass a new congressional map that would sharply dilute Democratic voting strength in an effort to preserve a Republican majority in next year\u2019s congressional midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Lyndon B Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to \u201cprevent maps like this\u201d, Casar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to fight like hell to stop it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going back to pre-1965.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI see him basically as an errand boy for President Trump,\u201d Doggett said of the Texas governor, Greg Abbott. \u201cHe didn\u2019t ask for this map, he\u2019s just following orders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGovernor Abbott could have easily passed flood relief on day one of this special session,\u201d Casar added. \u201cInstead he\u2019s holding flood relief hostage \u2026 It\u2019s all about himself and Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every Republican member of the Texas congressional delegation that Casar has discussed the map with has told him privately that they oppose the redistricting effort, he said. Republicans have worried since Trump first floated the redistricting plan that any attempt to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts could backfire, since creating new right-leaning districts is hard to do without making existing red districts less conservative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the Democratic caucus absconded to Chicago, a city with a Democratic mayor and city council in a state with a Democratic governor and legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n