Democratic Texas State Rep. John Bryant defended Democrats’ use of funds to cover expenses of lawmakers fleeing the state in an interview Friday.
Bryant, one of the over 50 Democratic Texas lawmakers who fled the state to block the Republican-backed redistricting vote, appeared on The Hill’s “Rising” with Daily Caller Senior Editor Amber Duke and co-host Lindsey Granger. Duke challenged Bryant to clarify the source of funding covering Democrats’ expenses for leaving the state. (RELATED: Texas Democrat Judge Derails Meeting With Bizarre Meltdown Over Failed Tax Hike)
“One of the allegations against your group from Senator Cornyn and now the FBI is they claim that you could be subject to violations of federal bribery laws because of the potential for outside groups to be funding your travel out of the state of Texas,” she said. “Can you confirm whether or not any outside groups have been covering maybe your hotel or other expenses?”
In response, Bryant asserted that the funds supporting the Democrats’ efforts were raised properly, then pivoted to criticize Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn.
“All of the money that’s been raised to support us in this — it’s been raised in the normal way through the House Democratic Caucus,” he said. “And these statements are being made by John Cornyn because he’s desperate to win his Republican primary. He’s being challenged by the state’s attorney general.”
“I think the Republican Party of the 21st century [has] become the people of the lie. It’s just one lie after another,” he continued. “Statements like that, for example, are designed to try to diminish what we’re doing.”
“We’re simply trying to stop people like him and Donald Trump from having a majority in the House of Representatives after the 2026 elections.” (RELATED: ‘Sends A Terrible Message’: Doug Schoen Says Texas Dems Fleeing ‘Very Damaging’ To ‘Democratic Brand’)
Cornyn alleged Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers could have violated state bribery laws in supporting efforts to shut down Republicans’ redistricting plan by allegedly taking funds from outside groups. Groups linked to unsuccessful Texas candidate Beto O’Rourke and billionaire donor George Soros are reportedly paying the expenses of Democrats who left the state to protest the Republican-led effort, according to The Texas Tribune.
Cornyn announced Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation agreed to assist in tracking down the lawmakers.
Duke went onto press Bryan on why many of his colleagues chose to flee to Illinois. “They went to Illinois which is sort of infamously one of the most gerrymandered states in the country by the Democratic Party. Do you think that it was a PR mistake to choose to go there,” Duke asked.
Bryant denied any knowledge of the state’s redistricting or any other’s. “I don’t know anything about their redistricting or any other state’s for that matter,” he continued. “We went to a place where we thought the sergeant of arms of the house would have difficulty returning us to the state.”
“We were trying to effectively break quorum … We didn’t study any state’s redistricting in the past or anything like that.”
Duke pressed the state representative on whether he had ever seen a map of Illinois’s congressional districts.
In response, Bryant deflected by pointing to his own state. “Well, you should see how they are drawn in Texas. They already look like somebody threw mud at a wall,” he said.
The Texas House approved a motion on Monday to issue arrest warrants for over 50 Democratic lawmakers after they did not show up for the vote in the chamber. (RELATED: Ken Paxton Describes Plan To Penalize Democrats Who Fled Texas To Dodge Redistricting Vote)
The Daily Caller reached out to Cornyn for comment and was directed to one of his earlier posts on X. The senator thanked President Donald Trump, then criticized the lawmakers by alleging that they were “living high on the hog thanks to George Soros and other fat cat donors.”
