Leftists wonder why they can't flip Texas blue, and it might just the behavior of the Texas lawmakers they've got that's telling voters all they need to know about the wisdom of electing Democrats.

On Sunday, Texas's state lawmakers boarded their aircraft to fly around the country as a group of runaway schoolboys in the same stunt they pulled during the time of COVID, this time because they don't like a bill on redistricting that's likely to pass and are trying to halt a quorum.

According to the New York Times:

Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives left the state on Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to stop Republicans from adopting an aggressively redrawn congressional map. Their absence is expected to prevent the House from reaching the quorum needed to hold a vote this week.

The walkout was a sharp escalation in the bitter partisan clash over a mid-decade redistricting in Texas that was requested by President Trump. Republicans in the State Legislature were rapidly moving forward, with the map — drawn to flip five Democratic congressional districts to favor Republicans — being passed out of two committees over the weekend.

Hours after the Democrats departed, Gov. Greg Abbott responded with a further escalation, declaring that their walkout amounted to an “abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office.”

If they do not show up for a scheduled floor debate on the maps on Monday, Mr. Abbott said, he will invoke a legal opinion by the Texas attorney general and take steps to “remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.” Such a move would almost certainly be challenged in court.

Abbott sounds like an angry principal having to call out a group of unruly schoolboys who've just set their pants on fire, or Mr. MacGregor calling out Peter Rabbit and the rest of the bunnies eating his lettuce, pitchfork in hand.

The Democrats claim the Republicans are 'rigging' the system to shut out five Democrat seats, but that's a normal process, given that Texas has grown, based on all the inbound migration from California and other blue states.

Fact is, Democrats now are overrepresented in Texas and this is a course correction.

In any case Democrat states do it all the time -- just ask California, New York, or Illinois. Are they upset at getting beat at their own game?

The irony is, the lawmakers fled to Illinois, which is arguably the most gerrymandered state in the union. If they're doing their schoolboy stunt to prove some principle, they picked a mighty funny state.

The second irony was that they tried this once, during COVID's lockdowns in a protest over an election integrity bill, and failed miserably, having to come back to Texas with their tails between their legs. Now they are trying it again. You know what they say about insanity. 

The Times says they face numerous sanctions for their bad behavior:

Texas Republican lawmakers could try to compel the Democratic members to return by issuing civil arrest warrants for violating the rules of the Texas House, as they did during a previous walkout, or by withholding pay from the members and their staffs. The speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows, a Republican, said in a statement that “all options will be on the table” if not enough members are present when the House meets on Monday at 3 p.m.

Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, said on X that the Democrats “who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.” He has promised to work with state and federal authorities to bring back absent members.

In addition to threatening their removal, Mr. Abbott said that the absent Democrats “may also have committed felonies” if they accepted money to pay any potential fines they would face under House rules.

They also face a $500 a day fine. 

In the end, they will have to come back or Abbott, who's sick of their bad behavior, will get rid of them.

It's amazing how crazy they get when their power is at stake  -- whether it's redistricting or electoral integrity. That tells us what their real values are. And here they are, pulling a style-over-substance show as if they come from the same political school as Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Maybe they do. No wonder voters are avoiding them like a bad smell.

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