AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday appealed to the state’s Supreme Court for the ousting of the Democratic House leader, in a bid to break the deadlock over redrawn U.S. House districts favored by former President Donald Trump.
In an unusual move, Abbott bypassed lower courts and directly filed an emergency petition to the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court just days after Democrats began their walkout. The petition relies on an untested legal argument, claiming that absent legislators have essentially given up their seats by not returning to the Texas Capitol.
This action heightens Republican efforts to draw Democrats back to Texas, including issuing civil arrest warrants and deploying state troopers. Additionally, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn requested FBI assistance in locating and arresting Democrats on the same day, with Trump adding that federal agents “may have to” intervene, though he provided no further details.
“Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans, and there must be consequences,” Abbott said.
Abbott, who is a former state Supreme Court justice, aims to oust state House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Gene Wu, who remains with several colleagues in Chicago. The governor has asked the court for a decision by Thursday.
Wu, a former prosecutor in Houston, said leaving Texas to halt the maps was not “an abandonment of my office” but a fulfillment of his oath.
“Unable to justify his corrupt policies, Greg Abbott now desperately tries to silence my opposition by removing a duly-elected official,” Wu stated.
Texas leaders try turning up pressure
Despite these efforts, Republicans still face challenges in executing their threats, while Democrats encounter hurdles in obstructing Republicans from approving the map intended to secure Trump’s party’s prospects in the 2026 midterm elections.
Legal experts and even Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton say it would be difficult to enforce consequences against the Democratic lawmakers while they are safely camped out in sympathetic Democratic-controlled states and effectively out of reach of Texas law enforcement looking to bring them home.
Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate against Cornyn in the 2026 GOP primary, threw out some of the earliest calls for arrests. But even he has called enforcing the various threats “a challenge.”
“Until they show up themselves back in Texas, sometimes it’s hard to actually execute on that,” Paxton said in interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
By leaving Texas for Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, the Democrats prevented the 150-member state House of Representatives from reaching a quorum for a scheduled vote on the new U.S. House voting map. Trump hopes to pick up five Republican seats from Texas in 2026.
Republicans hold an 88-62 majority in the House, and the Texas Constitution requires at least 100 members be present to do business. With at least 51 Democrats absent, the House failed to reach a quorum Monday and again Tuesday.
The current special session ends Aug. 20 but Abbott can keep calling lawmakers back to the Capitol to pass the redistricting bill.
Texas Republicans sought changes after a previous walkout
Following a walkout by Texas Democrats in 2021, Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion that argued the state could sue the lawmakers to have their seats declared vacated. This week, Paxton said that could be a long process that would require individual lawsuits filed against each missing lawmaker, sometimes in district courts he said would not be friendly to Republicans.
Still, Paxton said Tuesday that he will press ahead with lawsuits if lawmakers don’t return by Friday.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Republican state Sen. Charles Perry said. “It’s a tall order to remove an elected official from the Legislature.”
Abbott also ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate possible bribery charges related to how the Democrats are paying for their quorum break, alleging anyone who financially helped them leave the state could be culpable.
State Rep. James Talarico, one of the Democrats who left, encouraged donations to support their effort.
“And that’s appropriate because this fight is for the people and it should be funded by the people,” he said.
David Froomkin, an assistant law professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said the removal effort and bribery charges would be on weak legal ground, and the threats of arrests and investigations are more likely meant to intimidate.
“It’s much more aggressive hardball than we have seen in battles over the quorum requirement,” Froomkin said. “In general in this country today, we’re seeing incumbents be much more inclined to make aggressive use of their power in order to try to maintain their power.”
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This story restores a dropped word to correct a statement from Rep. Gene Wu. He said leaving the state was not “an abandonment of my office,” instead of an abandonment.
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Nadia Lathan in Austin, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed.
