The FBI approved Sen. John Cornyn’s request to locate the contingent of quorum-breaking Texas Democrats, the senator said Thursday, though it remains unclear how the agency would proceed in the absence of a breach of federal law.
The Texas Republican penned a letter to the FBI on Tuesday asking for federal assistance to punish the fleeing Democrats amid a broader battle over the absentee lawmakers, whom the state’s GOP leaders are hoping to expel from office.
“I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats,” Cornyn said. “I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas. We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities.”
It is unclear what resources the FBI is investing in fulfilling Cornyn’s request, or how it is approaching the situation as there is no apparent legal breach under its purview. A campaign aide for the senator on Thursday said his team isn’t clear on what the FBI’s green light means in terms of practical next steps.
The FBI declined to comment for this story.
Dozens of Democrats departed the state over the weekend in an attempt to thwart the state Legislature’s passage of a newly redrawn congressional map that would grant Republicans five more favorable districts ahead of the 2026 midterms.
In response, the state’s Republican leaders have threatened to remove the truant Democrats from office, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declaring that they had “forfeited their seats” and the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton moving to expel the lawmakers from the Legislature.
Quorum-breaking is legal in the state, which lawmakers and experts have highlighted amid Republican attacks.
Democrats have doubled down in their efforts, with Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin declaring during a press conference Tuesday that “This is a new Democratic Party. We’re bringing a knife to a knife fight.”
But Republicans are pressing on in their attacks.
In an appearance on conservative talk show host Dana Loesch’s program on Wednesday, Abbott previewed the FBI's mobilization to search for and bring back the fleeing Democrats.
“It’s my understanding that the FBI is going to search for these derelict Texas House members, in whatever state they may be in, and help identify them — and maybe work with us to bring them back,” Abbott said, adding that the lawmakers are “not going to go to their cozy home; they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol.”
The Republican governor on Tuesday also generated infighting within his own party when he bypassed district courts to file an emergency petition in the state’s Supreme Court demanding the removal of Texas Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu.
The move prompted immediate pushback from Paxton, who criticized the governor’s disregard for the legal order of operations and emphasized that the legal maneuver could “only be brought by the attorney general, a county attorney, or a district attorney.”
Kyle Cheney and Adam Wren contributed to this report.
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