Texas Governor Greg Abbott is threatening to expel Democrat lawmakers who are engaging in dramatic measures to block a redistricting bill that benefits Republicans.
Over 50 Democratic state legislators left Texas to avoid casting votes on a contentious piece of legislation backed by Donald Trump, which could increase Republican influence in Congress.
The bill would redraw the state’s congressional maps and eliminate five U.S. House seats presently held by Democrats.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott vowed to “remove the absent Democrats from the Texas House membership” for “neglecting their duties and hindering legislative operations.”
Democrats planned to stall a vote on the legislation by the full chamber by not showing up, a procedure also known as ‘breaking quorum.’
To proceed with business in the Texas House of Representatives, a quorum of 100 members is required, but the mass departure of Democratic members has stalled legislative activities.
An estimated 57 Democrats left for Illinois over the weekend, according to Caucus Chair Gene Wu.
Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker promised to protect the Texas Democrats in his state from arrest because ‘they’re following the law.’
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington
An image shows a map of proposed U.S. Congressional Districts at a Texas legislators’ public hearing on congressional redistricting in Austin, Texas, on Friday, August 1, 2025.
Lawmakers who refuse to attend could face a $500 daily fine under a rule enacted in 2021 after a similar move by Texas Democrats to delay another voting measure.
Abbott says his threat to remove the Democrats from their offices is rooted in Texas law.
According to a legal review by the state’s attorney general, a legislator can be determined to have ‘vacated office’ if they intentionally break quorum.
Abbott also added that a district court ‘may determine that a legislator has forfeited his or her office due to abandonment and can remove the legislator from office, thereby creating a vacancy.’
Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham called the Democratic mass exodus a ‘tantrum.’
And other pundits were quick to slam the ’embarrassing’ stunt by Democrats that swept headlines over the weekend.
California Governor and rumored 2028 presidential contender Gavin Newsom shared his take on the clash in a post on X Monday morning, writing that the ‘Governor of Texas is threatening to remove democratically elected officials from office because they have refused to rig an election for Donald Trump.’
‘United States of America, 2025’, Newsom wrote, wrapping up his X post.
The redistricting push in Texas was originally spurred by a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice sent to state officials in July, which argued that four of the state’s congressional districts were ‘racially gerrymandered.’
Democrats won all four of these seats in the 2024 elections.
As a result, Trump then urged Texas Republicans to rethink their congressional maps to give Republicans a leg up in next year’s midterm elections.
A comparison of the current Texas Congressional Districts, and the new proposed map
President Donald Trump waves while boarding Air Force One at Lehigh Valley International Airport, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025, in Allentown, Pa.
After a hearing was held Friday on the proposed new maps, the Republicans on the Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting voted to advance on a party-line vote.
Texas Rep. Todd Hunter, the Republican author of the bill pushing the new maps, described the new proposed carveouts in the following way: ‘It is important to note that four of the five new districts are majority minority, Hispanic. … Each of these newly drawn districts now trends Republican,’ Hunter said.
‘Political performance doesn’t guarantee electoral success; that’s up to the candidates. But it does allow Republican candidates the opportunity to compete in these districts.’
Firebrand Democrat Jasmine Crockett faces being booted from Congress after Republicans proposed a heavily gerrymandered redistricting map that would mean she no longer lives in her district.
Crockett has made headlines numerous times in recent months as a key critic of the Trump administration, and the redistricting issue is the latest one she has spoken out on.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett testifies against the new proposed Congressional maps on August 1st, 2025
She has slammed the Texas redistricting maps as a sham that silences minority voices and keeps power in the hands of the few, diluting the voting power of Latino and Black communities.
Crockett called Trump ‘Temu Hitler’ in a recent interview with SiriusXM host Zerlina Maxwell, due to the president’s involvement in the redistricting process.
‘So what we have seen is, again, this rogue Department of Justice going out to do the bidding of this Temu Hitler,’ Crockett told Maxwell in July.
Crockett also added that in her view, Trump believes that the only way to ‘ensure that [he] will have no checks on [him] is if [he] can ensure that those voices of color do not have representation.’
The Texas congressional maps were already redrawn after the 2020 Census, and they are typically edited every ten years.
