Texas Democrats who left state prevent vote, for now, on Trump's efforts
to add GOP House seats
[August 05, 2025]
By BILL BARROW and NADIA LATHAN
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state’s
House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a
redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up
Republicans’ 2026 midterm prospects as his political standing falters.
After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House
was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are
absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using “smoke
and mirrors” to assert legal authority he does not have.
The Republican-dominated House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for
absent Democrats and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and
arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the
jurisdiction of state authorities.
“If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences,"
House Speaker Rep. Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later
telling reporters that includes fines.
Democrats' revolt and Abbott's threats intensified a fight over
congressional maps that began in Texas but now includes Democratic
governors who have pitched redrawing their district maps in retaliation
— even if their options are limited. The dispute also reflects Trump’s
aggressive view of presidential power and his grip on the Republican
Party nationally, while testing the long-standing balance of powers
between the federal government and individual states.
California Democrats are considering new political maps that could slash
five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state while
bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts.
The impasse centers on Trump’s effort to get five more GOP-leaning
congressional seats in Texas, at Democrats' expense, before the
midterms. That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its U.S.
House majority, something Republicans were unable to do in the 2018
midterms during Trump's first presidency. Republicans currently hold 25
of Texas' 38 seats. That's nearly a 2-to-1 advantage and already a wider
partisan gap than the 2024 presidential results: Trump won 56.1% of
Texas ballots, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%.
Speaking Monday on the Fox News show “America's Newsroom,” Abbott
essentially admitted to the partisan power play, noting the U.S. Supreme
Court has determined “there is nothing illegal” about shaping districts
to a majority party’s advantage. He even acknowledged it as
“gerrymandering” before correcting himself to say Texas is “drawing
lines.”
More than 1,800 miles (2,900 km) away from Austin, New York Gov. Kathy
Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats and argued their cause is national.
“We’re not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day
stagecoach heist by a bunch of law breaking cowboys,” Hochul said
Monday, flanked by several of the lawmakers who left Texas. “If
Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an
advantage, then they’re leaving us with no choice: We must do the same.
You have to fight fire with fire.”
A debate over who is abusing power
Abbott insisted lawmakers have “absconded” in violation of their sworn
duties.
“I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state Legislature
because they are not doing the job they were elected to do,” he said in
the Fox News interview, invoking his state's hallmark machismo to call
the Democrats “un-Texan.”
“Texans don’t run from a fight,” he said.
Hours after Monday's halted House session, a gaggle of Democrats — state
lawmakers who left and members of Congress whose lines would be redrawn
— mocked Abbott as the weak figure in this battle.
“I never thought as a Texan ... that I would see the governor of the
proud state of Texas bend a knee to a felon from New York,” said U.S.
Rep. Julie Johnson, a state legislator before voters sent her to
Washington.
Legislators themselves showed no plans to heed Abbott's demands.
“He has no legal mechanism,” said state Rep. Jolanda Jones, one of the
lawmakers who was in New York on Monday. “Subpoenas from Texas don’t
work in New York, so he can’t come and get us. Subpoenas in Texas don’t
work in Chicago. ... He’s putting up smoke and mirrors.”
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Speaker of the House Rep. Dustin Burrows takes the roll call in the
House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.
(Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of
legislative rules. As for his threat to remove the lawmakers, Abbott
cited a nonbinding legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney
General Ken Paxton amid an partisan quorum dispute in 2021. Paxton
suggested a court could determine that a legislator had forfeited
their office.
University of Houston law professor David Froomkin cast doubt on
that interpretation. He said it's “baseless” to claim lawmakers
abandoned their seats when their absence is clearly tied to current
legislative debate.
Still, the Republican response is accelerated compared with the 2021
dispute, when weeks passed before the GOP majority opted for civil
arrest warrants. Froomkin said Abbott could be using the mere
possibility of legal wrangling over their jobs to intimidate
lawmakers into returning.
Status of the vote
Legislators who left the state declined to say how long they'll hold
out.
“We recognized when we got on the plane that we’re in this for the
long haul,” said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who has served in the
Legislature since 2001.
Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu said members “will do
whatever it takes” but added, “What that looks like, we don’t know.”
Legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, including
in 2021, when many Democrats left Texas for 38 days to protest
proposed voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans passed
that measure.
Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member House without
two-thirds of members present. Democrats hold 62 seats in the
majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state,
according to a Democratic aide.
The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders could
“physically compel the attendance” of missing members, but no
Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants
were served. Republicans answered by adopting $500 daily fines for
lawmakers who don't show.
Abbott, meanwhile, continues to make unsubstantiated claims that
some lawmakers have committed felonies by soliciting money to pay
for potential fines for leaving Texas during the session.
Disaster response and 2028 presidential politics
The lack of a quorum will delay votes on disaster assistance and new
warning systems after last month’s catastrophic Texas floods that
killed at least 136 people. Democrats had called for votes on the
flooding response before taking up redistricting and have criticized
Republicans for not doing so.
On Fox, Abbott attempted to turn that issue back on Democrats,
suggesting their absences would become the reason for a delayed
flood response.
Beyond Texas, some Democrats want to leverage the fight.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender
and outspoken Trump critic, welcomed Texas Democrats to Chicago on
Sunday after having been in quiet talks with them for weeks.
Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another potential 2028
contender, held public events about the Texas fight before the
quorum break.
“This is not just rigging the system in Texas,” Pritzker said
Sunday. “It's about rigging the system against the rights of all
Americans for years to come.”
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas urged other Democratic governors to
join Pritzker, Newsom and Hochul. Democrats, Veasey said, have too
often “shown up to a gunfight with good intentions, no knives.” But
“that era is over," Veasey declared Monday from Illinois. “We are
not going to unilaterally disarm.”
The Texas House is scheduled to convene again Tuesday afternoon.
___
Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Joey
Cappelletti in Washington, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Andrew
DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, also contributed to this report.
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