Why dozens of Democrats left Texas and how Republicans want to punish them

Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers in Texas have scattered to points across the country in a last-ditch effort to prevent Republicans from adopting U.S. House maps that President Donald Trump wants in place before the 2026 midterm elections.

By leaving the state, Democrats are beyond the reach of Texas law enforcement, and they can effectively block any votes by ensuring the 150-member House does not have the quorum required to do business.

The effect was immediate: The Republican-controlled state House did not have the required quorum for a scheduled vote on the new district maps Monday afternoon. The House planned to try again Tuesday, even with no expectation that Democrats will return.

Gov. Greg Abbott and fellow Republicans are threatening to try to remove the Democrats from office, levy daily fines and even have the lawmakers arrested if they don’t come back to the Capitol. Abbott ordered Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to track down the lawmakers and bring them to the Capitol.

The Democratic response to the threats? “Come and take it.”

Here are some things to know about the scene unfolding in Texas.

Why the Democrats took off

Trump wants to redraw the Texas congressional map in hopes of adding five more GOP seats in Texas in the midterm elections to boost his party’s chance of preserving its slim U.S. House majority. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats.

As the minority party in the state House and Senate, Democrats simply do not have the votes to stop the plan under normal legislative procedures. The maps were passed by a committee last week and swiftly scheduled for a floor vote.

Sizing up their limited power and options, Democrats chose to deny the quorum as their only chance to put the brakes on Trump’s plan and to rally national support.

Where they went

Many went to Illinois and New York.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed a group of Democrats who landed Sunday in Chicago. Prizker, a potential 2028 presidential contender who has been one of Trump’s most outspoken critics during Trump’s second term, had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about offering support if they chose to leave the state.

Last week, the governor hosted several Texas Democrats in Illinois to publicly oppose the redistricting effort. California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a similar event in his own state.

While hosting Texas Democrats who left the state in Albany, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the fight over congressional lines in Texas has implications nationally.

“I have a news flash for Republicans in Texas: This is no longer the Wild West,” Hochul said. “We’re not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by bunch of law-breaking cowboys.”

Republicans are trying to punish them

Abbott, a Republican, quickly warned Democrats that he will seek to remove them from office if they don’t return by Monday afternoon. He cited a nonbinding 2021 legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. It suggested a court could determine that legislators had forfeited their offices in a quorum break.

Abbott also suggested the lawmakers may have committed felonies by raising money to help pay for fines.

A lawmaker refusing to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules, and they can be fined $500 for every day they aren’t at the Capitol. In 2021, the Texas Supreme Court held that House leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served that year in a similar quorum break.

Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows has promised that “all options will be on the table.” Minutes after the House failed to reach a quorum, Republicans approved a proposal for Burrows to issue civil arrest warrants for the missing Democrats, even though it was unclear whether those could or would be enforced beyond Texas.

Abbott seemed determined to at least try to locate the Democrats by issuing an order to state troopers to find and arrest them and return them to the House.

“To those who are absent, return now,” Burrows said. “Come back and fulfill your duty.”

Leaving the state has not worked before

Texas Democrats have fled the state before in attempts to thwart the Republican majority.

They twice denied the GOP a quorum in 2003 to stop Republican efforts to redraw voting maps, at one point leaving for Oklahoma and later for New Mexico. In 2021, Democrats left the state in the final days of the session over an elections bill and new voting restrictions. They stayed away for 38 days.

Both efforts only delayed the Republican-led measures that were ultimately passed once Democrats eventually returned to Austin.

And while the current special session ends Aug. 20, Abbott has the authority to keep calling lawmakers back to the Capitol for 30-day special sessions to pass the redistricting bill and any other item he believes should be addressed.

The current special session agenda includes help for communities devastated by the the July 4 floods that killed at least 136 people. As part of their walkout, Texas Democrats have accused Republicans of prioritizing the politics of redistricting over flood victims.

Abbott defended the redistricting plan as an effort to redraw lines to better reflect voters who supported Trump in the 2024 election, when he easily won Texas.

“ Gerrymandering can be done, or drawing lines, can be done on the basis of political makeup, as in Republicans versus Democrats. And there’s nothing illegal about that,” Abbott said Monday in an interview with Fox News. “All of these districts that are being added are districts that were won by Trump.”