Texas Democrats fled the state Sunday to deny the GOP a legislative quorum as part of an effort to prevent Republicans from redrawing the Lone Star State’s congressional maps.
The move deprives the Texas state 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.
It adds another layer to the battle that’s been brewing in Texas, though it’s unclear just how much this could impact the GOP plans.
Separately, talk of redistricting is building in other states as both parties ready for next year’s high-stakes midterms.
Here are five things to know.
Texas Democrats are trying to slow GOP redistricting push
With the GOP firmly in control of both houses of Texas’s state Legislature, Democrats didn’t have many avenues available to stop Republicans from plowing forward with their plan, which could give Republicans another five House seats.
Without enough power in the House to vote down the proposed changes — which advanced out of committee over the weekend and was expected to receive a floor vote this week — Democrats’ best move was leaving the state to prevent the state House from being able to conduct any business.
The 150-member state House needs at least two-thirds of its members present for a quorum, and just enough Democrats left the state to deny it. They split up their destinations among solidly Democratic states — Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.
This isn’t the first time Texas Democrats, who have long been a minority in the state chambers, have turned to this strategy to try to stall a particularly controversial plan state Republicans were proposing.
They fled in 2003 when Republicans were pursuing an earlier middecade redistricting plan and again in 2021 to try to stop a bill to implement new voting restrictions. In both cases, the proposals were delayed but ultimately passed.
The quorum break comes in the middle of a 30-day special session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), after President Trump put pressure on Texas to redraw lines and boost GOP numbers. Democrats could try to run out the clock on the current session but couldn’t keep Abbott from calling another.
Texas GOP want to move forward regardless
Republicans don’t seem deterred in moving ahead with their plan despite the loss of quorum.
The state House is still set to meet Monday afternoon as previously scheduled with the members who are still present. But they won’t be able to conduct business, with at least 51 state House Democrats absent.
Republican state House Speaker Dustin Burrows said on the social platform X that if a quorum isn’t present by a 3 p.m. CDT deadline, “all options will be on the table.”
Abbott argued in a memo from the governor’s office that attendance at a special session isn’t optional and that members must return in time for the meeting. He cited an opinion from the Texas attorney general as giving him the authority to declare vacant any seats held by state legislators who intentionally seek to break quorum.
He said this also empowers him to fill open seats if a vacancy occurs.
“It seems to me that the only way some of the fleeing Democrats can avoid bribery charges is to not break quorum,” Abbott wrote in a post on X.
If the clock on the 30-day special session were to be run out, Abbott is also capable of calling another special session.
Democrats could face penalties, arrests
After Democrats’ 2021 flight from the state irked their Republican counterparts, the Texas House approved new punishments for quorum-breakers, including $500 daily fines per lawmaker and potential expulsion.
With more than 50 lawmakers out of the state and the timing of their protest unclear, the latest standoff could be an expensive one.
The Texas Tribune reported last week that some Democratic Party donors appeared prepared to cover the costs if a walkout occurred. In 2021, a group aligned with former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) reportedly gave $600,000 to help fund Texas Democrats’ stay in Washington, D.C., during that quorum break.
The participating Democrats risk losing their seats in the House, considering Abbott’s pledge to remove missing lawmakers from membership if they’re not in attendance when the state House reconvenes Monday afternoon.
Beyond threatening to kick out and replace the lawmakers, Abbott pledged to use his “full extradition authority to demand the return to Texas of any potential out-of-state felons.”
He argued any state lawmaker who solicits or accepts funds to cover the fines may have violated state bribery law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) echoed Abbott, saying the lawmakers “should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”
It’s unclear how long the standoff will last
There’s no clear timeline for when Democrats might return to Texas.
Quorum was broken for four days in 2003, and six weeks in 2021 — but Republicans ultimately succeeded in passing both bills Democrats had sought to protest.
Since their numbers in the state chambers aren’t enough to kill the proposed redistricting legislatively, their move to flee simply stalls their GOP counterparts from being able to move forward with the plan. Unless Republicans change course, Democrats’ return would likely mean the line changes sail through.
The state lawmakers who have fled could run out the clock on the current 30-day special session, which kicked off July 21. But Abbott has the authority to call an unlimited number of additional special sessions, including back-to-back blocks.
In theory, Democrats could try to stay out of the state until November, when the filing period for 2026 primary candidates opens in Texas, in an effort to stall the maps from taking effect before the midterms.
But Democrats’ absence also stalls other business that this summer’s special session was slated to address, including votes on aid after last month’s catastrophic flooding – a point Republicans have hammered home.
Other states are also getting into the fight
The Texas GOP plan to redistrict set off a domino effect across the country, prompting Democrats and Republicans alike to consider middecade redraws of their own lines in states where they have control.
Republicans are looking to protect the party’s narrow 219-212 U.S. House majority in next year’s midterms, while Democrats want to offset GOP gains and flip the chamber.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has been at the forefront of conversations around the Lone Star State’s redistricting, threatening to redraw lines in his big blue state if Texas moves forward. Newsom, whose state has led resistance efforts to Trump and the GOP, was set to hold a press conference Monday.
Democrats in New York have also floated their own efforts to redistrict, though the changes wouldn’t be likely to take effect for another few election cycles. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), meeting Monday with some of the Texas lawmakers who fled to her state, said she was weighing her options.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), who has said his state will protect the Texas Democrats who fled to it, has also left the door open to redistricting.
The redistricting tensions have offered blue state governors an opportunity for leadership at a fraught moment for the party and given some cause for hope that Democrats could counteract any GOP gains.
But some red states — like Florida, where Republicans are pushing to redraw — could also get in on the action and bolster their party’s edge.
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