California's Newsom, Pelosi back Texas Democrats as GOP warns of more
escalations over walkout
[August 09, 2025]
By JIM VERTUNO, SOPHIE AUSTIN and MICHAEL R. BLOOD
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared shoulder-to-shoulder Friday with Texas
Democratic lawmakers in a show of support for their nearly weeklong
walkout, which has blocked a vote on congressional redistricting maps
sought by President Donald Trump in a widening national battle over U.S.
House control.
Texas has been the epicenter of Trump’s push to gerrymander
congressional maps to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority before
next year. But the standoff is threatening to spill into other states —
including California, New York, Florida and Indiana — in an emerging
proxy war for control of Congress in 2026.
California is moving toward a special election in November that
Democrats hope could slash five Republican-held House seats in the
liberal-leaning state, in direct response to the maneuvering in Texas.
“We are trying to defend democracy, as opposed to see it destroyed
district by district,” Newsom said amid the crowd of lawmakers at the
governor's mansion. “There are no rules for Donald Trump.”
Pelosi defended the Texas walkout, calling it “self-defense for our
democracy.”
She said Democrats will not let Trump “pave over” free and fair
elections in the country.
Newsom, Pelosi spotlight high-stakes in battle over House lines
The appearance of nationally prominent Democrats Newsom — a potential
2028 presidential candidate — and Pelosi underscored the increasingly
high stakes for a deeply divided Washington.
Earlier Friday the Texas House failed to meet a quorum for the third
time this week as Democratic lawmakers continued to stay away from
Austin.
Texas Republicans had warned they would escalate efforts to end the
walkout if defiant Democrats do not return to the Capitol. But the
lawmakers who bolted for points across the country Aug. 3 still were not
back for Friday’s scheduled House floor vote.
Frustrated Republican leaders continued to ratchet up the pressure,
including new and expanding efforts to try to remove Democratic
lawmakers from office and seeking help from the FBI to assist state
troopers trying to find them.
“We have all hands on deck, we are continuing to explore” options to
force Democrats home, Speaker Dustin Burrows said after the chamber
failed to reach a quorum. “We will keep pressing forward until the job
is done. … Each one of you knows eventually you will come back.”
A court setback — though temporary, for now — for Texas Democrats
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke,
who ran unsuccessfully for governor and Senate, in state district court,
alleging that his political group, Powered by People, improperly gave
money to cover costs for the absent Democrats and continued to raise
more for them.
In an initial win for Republicans, Paxton said Friday that he had been
granted a temporary restraining order halting the spending and
fundraising while the case continues.
In a response on the social platform X, O'Rourke wrote, “They want to
make examples out of those who fight so that others won’t.”
A Texas road show gets national attention
The news conference in Sacramento came several days after Texas
Democrats appeared in Illinois with Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who said he
supported the walkout “because they don’t want to live in a country
where the president rigs elections for his side. That’s not democracy.”
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Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks in support of the Texas Democratic
lawmakers for their walk out to block a vote on a congressional
redistricting plan sought by President Donald Trump, during a news
conference in Sacramento, Calif., Friday Aug. 8, 2025. (AP
Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
One of the lawmakers in California, Texas State Rep. Ann Johnson,
alluded to the national implications of the dispute, saying, “We
recognize this is not just about Texas. This is about ensuring that
the voters get to determine the outcome of their next election.”
As California Democrats privately prepare a proposal for new House
district lines that would go to voters, Assembly member Isaac Bryan
said, “This is not a turn-the-other-cheek moment while they continue
to send blow after blow to the foundations of democracy.”
The Texas House is scheduled to reconvene Monday, but the dozens of
Democrats who left the state have shown no signs of buckling.
Mounting legal threats
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit directly to the
all-Republican state Supreme Court on Friday seeking to have 13 of
the Democratic lawmakers immediately removed from office, or at
least given a 48-hour warning that they must return or have their
offices declared vacated.
The lawsuit argues that the lawmakers have effectively “abandoned”
their office and duties, and they were singled out for making public
statements that they left for the purpose of blocking the vote and
disrupting House business.
"Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business
of Texas must go on,” Paxton said.
Paxton's lawsuit includes Rep. Gene Wu, chairman of the House
Democratic Caucus, who also faces a similar lawsuit filed by Gov.
Greg Abbott. Wu's legal team argued that the state constitution
allows House members to be removed only by a two-thirds vote of the
chamber, not the courts.
Wu said this week that quorum-breaking is not an abandonment of
office but a legitimate form of dissent.
Republicans vow to end up victorious
Abbott promised that he's willing to play the long game to get the
bill passed.
“We have an agenda to pass priorities critical to Texans, and we
will get it done. I’ll call special session after special session—no
matter how long it takes—until the job is finished,” Abbott said on
X.
The current special session ends Aug. 19, and the missing lawmakers
already face mounting fines for every day they are gone and civil
arrest warrants issued by the state House.
The widening battle beyond Texas
Trump wants five more seats out of Texas to potentially avoid a
repeat of the 2018 midterms, when Democrats reclaimed the U.S. House
and proceeded to thwart his agenda and impeach him twice.
The dynamics could embroil the 2026 midterm campaign in legislative
and court battles testing Trump’s power over the Republican Party,
Democrats’ ability to mount opposition and the durability of the
U.S. system of federalism that balances power between Washington and
the states.
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