AUSTIN, Texas (NewsNation) — Texas Democrats fled the state Sunday to deny Republicans a legislative quorum as part of an effort to prevent the GOP from redrawing the Lone Star State’s congressional maps.
The move deprives the Texas Legislature of the numbers it needs to function, stalling progress on the maps, but comes with big risks for the state Democrats, including steep fines and the threat of arrest.
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Democrats have tried the maneuver before
Democrats 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.
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.”
