The Texas house of representatives reconvened without the necessary number of lawmakers to conduct business on Friday, the deadline set by top state Republicans before the Democrats who have left for blue states face arrest or removal from office.
Texas Republican leaders have said in recent days that they would escalate their tactics if the more than 50 Democrats, who left Texas last week in an effort to block Republicans’ redistricting plans, do not return to the capital by Friday. Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, has said he will try to go to court to have them removed from office if they don’t return by Friday, and on Thursday evening Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, told NBC News he’s also prepared to escalate his tactics.
“We are in the process as we speak right now of searching for, preparing to arrest Democrats who may be in Texas, may be elsewhere,” Abbott said in the interview.
Democrats have said they plan to stay away for “as long as it takes” to block Trump’s effort to redraw the Texas maps mid-cycle and secure a Republican House majority in the 2026 midterms. But Abbott has said that would have to stay away for years to be successful. The current special legislative session, called by the Texas governor, lasts until 19 August, but Abbott has vowed to call “special session after special session after special session”.
“But I’ll tell you this also, Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue,” Abbott said in the NBC News interview. “That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there.”
In a separate interview, he said he might push for more than five seats.
“What I’m thinking now is that if they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding,” he said. “We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.”
Tensions have escalated dramatically since the Democrats left Texas and sought refuge in Democratic states. The Republican-led state House has approved civil arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers, and Abbott took the extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit with the state supreme court that seeks to remove Gene Wu, the House Democratic leader, from office.
On Thursday John Cornyn, the Texas senator, said the FBI agreed to assist in locating the Democrats, but the FBI declined to comment and it’s unclear what authority federal law enforcement would have, as they are not charged with federal crimes.
Earlier on Friday, the St Charles police department confirmed that the Illinois hotel where some of the quorum-breaking Democrats are believed to be staying had experienced a second bomb threat. It comes days after an initial bomb threat at the Q Center Hotel, in suburban Chicago.
Several Texas Democrats were in Sacramento on Friday to meet with the California governor, Gavin Newsom, who has threatened to respond in kind with new congressional maps that would offset the seats Republicans stand to gain in Texas if the president’s push is successful.
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