(The Center Square) – Texas House Democrats left Austin for Chicago on Sunday in an attempt to prevent the state House from voting Monday on a redistricting bill.
“As of today, this special session is over,” Democrats said in a statement.
The redistricting bill advanced out of committee on Saturday along party lines and was scheduled for a floor vote on Monday.
In order for the House to convene to conduct business, it must have a quorum – two-thirds of its members, 100, must be present. Even though Republicans hold a majority, they don’t have enough members to meet quorum on their own. The Texas House is comprised of 88 Republicans and 64 Democrats.
House Democrats argue the redistricting bill is illegal and have vowed to fight it.
“The choice was clear,” Texas House Democrats said. “Stand by while [Gov. Greg] Abbott silences millions of Black and Latino voters or use every tool available to stop this assault on our democracy. This corrupt special session is over.”
Within months of entering his second term, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sent a letter to Abbott raising concerns about the 2021 redistricting plan, requesting him to redistrict. Abbott cited the DOJ’s concerns in his call to add redistricting to the special session, which began July 21. The new redistricting plan likely would net at least five new Republican seats by moving Democrat incumbents to other districts and creating seven new districts (7, 9, 20, 30, 32, 34, 35), The Center Square reported.
Democrats also repeated their claim that they care more about the Hill Country flood victims than Republicans do and emergency funding should be prioritized.
“For two weeks, while the families in the Texas Hill Country mourned the loss of over 130 Texans in catastrophic floods, Democrats fought to make their relief the legislature’s top priority,” they said. “Instead, Governor Abbott and Republican leadership used the tragedy as political cover. After thousands of Texans testified against this corrupt bargain in hearings across the state, their pleas were ignored. Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. We will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander.
“As of today, this corrupt special session is over.”
By leaving the state, legislative business is halted, including passing any relief measures for flood victims.
Several lawmakers who fled the state went to Chicago for a second time – after a House delegation went to Chicago and Sacramento a week ago to meet with Democratic governors to devise a strategy to block the Republican redistricting effort, The Center Square reported. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to meet them at the airport.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, who previously met with Prizker and again went to Chicago, said more information would be provided after they land. State Rep. Christina Morales, who also joined Wu on the first Chicago trip, posted a video of her entering the airport saying, “It’s time to take this fight on the road.”
Other Democrats posted videos of themselves at the airport. State Rep. James Talarico said, “My Democratic colleagues and I just left the state of Texas to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab. Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections right before our eyes. But first he’ll have to come through us. It’s time to fight back.” State Rep. Chris Turner posted an image of himself in front of an airplane saying it was a “good day to fight for our democracy” and asked for donations.
Also on Sunday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, issued a statement, saying, “The Texas House will be convening at 3:00pm tomorrow. If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table.”
He’s referring to potentially arresting state lawmakers who break quorum, disrupt legislative business in violation of House rules. Four years ago, the Texas Supreme Court ruled state lawmakers could be arrested, The Center Square reported.
House Democrats repeated a maneuver they used in July 2021 when they absconded for Washington, D.C., to prevent voting on election reform, The Center Square reported. That year, Abbott had called a special session to address 11 legislative items. Because Democrats absconded, legislative business halted. In August 2021, he called a second special session. When Democrats returned, the legislature eventually passed the reforms.
Unless House Democrats return for business to continue, Abbott is expected to call a second special session to begin around August 20, 30 days after the first session began on July 21.
