


Texas state Democrats are urging people to join their efforts to slow Republicans‘ redistricting plans, as reports suggest the lawmakers’ time outside of the Lone Star State could be coming to a close.
At a press conference with Indiana lawmakers, Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu, a Democrat, thanked states such as Illinois, New York, and California for welcoming the Texas Democrats who fled the state to break quorum, or the number needed to conduct legislative business, to prevent a vote on the GOP’s new congressional districts.
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Wu said, “We cannot do this alone” during the presser, calling on more states to take action.
“This is not a fight that we can sustain and win on our own,” Wu said. “And what we need is, we need more people to join us. We need more states to come to our aid, and we need more people to say, ‘We will start taking more aggressive actions. We will defend against this.'”
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and other Texas officials have exerted legal pressure against the state Democrats, including fines and threatening to remove them from their seats if they do not return.
“If Texas is determined to do this, if other red states are determined to do this and to stifle and block the will of the people and to take away our voice and our power, then we will have other states who will make sure that it does not matter what they do, that we will nullify their actions,” the leader continued. “We will make it pointless for them to attack our democracy.”
Wu’s remarks come a day after ABC13 confirmed with multiple sources that Texas House Democrats will return to the Lone Star State on Friday after the special session concludes. The sources said the lawmakers believe they accomplished their duty of disrupting the session and calling attention to the mid-decade redistricting agenda that is now engulfing blue and red states across the country.
“Members are still assessing their strategies going forward and are in a private meeting to make decisions about future plans currently,” a spokesperson for the Texas House Democratic Caucus said in a statement to the outlet. “If and when Texas House Democrats breaking quorum decide to go home is squarely dependent on the actions the Governor, Speaker, and Texas Republicans in charge make with regard to prioritizing flood victims over redistricting that hurts Texans.”
Despite Texas Democrats fleeing the state, Abbott has insisted redistricting will be voted on and he will call for special sessions until it is completed. Abbott and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican, said on Tuesday the current special session will end on Friday if there isn’t a quorum, and then a second special session will pick up immediately after.
“With the Texas House and Senate today announcing they are prepared to sine die on Friday, I will call the Texas Legislature back immediately for Special Session #2,” Abbott said. “The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans. There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them. I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”
Abbott has also threatened to expand the districts so they create as many as eight new GOP seats for Texas’s delegation. The current redrawn districts have five.
TEXAS REPUBLICANS PLAN FOR ANOTHER SPECIAL SESSION FOR REDISTRICTING STARTING NEXT WEEK
Texas Democrats’ return to the state would not be unexpected given the intense pressure placed on them by Republicans at the state and federal levels. The FBI is working in coordination with the Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers to locate and investigate the lawmakers for criminal activity, including bribery. Arrest warrants were adopted by the Texas House last week, but they were largely symbolic because they are only valid within state lines.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Texas House Democratic Caucus, Abbott, and Burrows for comment.