FBI Director Kash Patel has agreed to aid the search for the Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to protest new congressional maps, Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday.
Texas Republicans have been trying to bring the Democrats back so there are enough lawmakers on the floor for a quorum, which would enable them to vote on new congressional maps likely to increase the GOP advantage in the state. Texas requires two-thirds of the House — or 100 of the 150 representatives — to be present for a quorum.
It’s unclear what the laws the legislators might have broken that would involve the FBI. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called for civil arrest and said he had ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to force them to return. But Texas DPS does not have jurisdiction outside the state.
Abbott and Cornyn have raised allegations of bribery, since the lawmakers’ quorum break is being funded by donations from various groups, including former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s PAC and other Democratic groups. In addition to travel expenses, each Democrat faces fines of $500 a day.
“I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas,” Cornyn said. “We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities.”
Abbott last month called a 30-day special session with 18 agenda items, including embarking on a rare mid-decade redistricting ordered by President Trump. Texas has 38 representatives in Congress, 25 Republicans and 13 Democrats. Mr. Trump asked Texas Republicans to redraw the congressional map to deliver up to five more seats for the GOP.
“We are entitled to five more seats,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday.
This is not the first time Democrats in Texas have left the state to prevent a quorum, and not even the first time they have used this tactic to protest a mid-decade redistricting.
“When a governor conspires with a disgraced president to ram through a racist gerrymandered map, my constitutional duty is to not be a willing participant,” said Texas Rep. Gene Wu, the Democrats’ Minority Leader, in a statement on Tuesday.
Abbot earlier this week said he would ask a judge to remove the Democratic lawmakers for vacating their office, citing a 2021 nonbinding opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. On Tuesday, Abbott filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court — which is packed with Abbott’s own appointees — to remove Wu from office if he didn’t return by Thursday. Abbott called Wu the “ringleader” of the quorum break.
Paxton, meanwhile, on Wednesday said he is launching an investigation into O’Rourke’s PAC for financing the out-of-state travel and fines. In a statement to CBS Texas, O’Rourke’s organization responded “the guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five Congressional seats.”
Paxton is currently challenging Cornyn in the GOP primary for his Senate seat. Colin Allred has already launched a bid to run as a Democrat, with O’Rourke and state Rep. James Talarico — one of the Democrats who fled the state — considered other possible contenders.
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