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yesterday

Texas GOP Seeks FBI Aid to Find Absent Democrats as Redistricting Deadline Looms

Federal agents have been enlisted by GOP leaders to compel absent legislators to return ahead of a special-session deadline.

Attendees look at a map of Texas during a public testimony hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.
FILE -Vice President JD Vance listens as President Donald Trump speaks, Aug. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
A map of U.S. congressional districts proposed plan is seen at a Texas legislators' public hearing on congressional redistricting in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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Overview

  • More than 50 Democratic state House members remain out of Texas, preventing the two-thirds quorum needed to advance a mid-decade redistricting plan.
  • U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said FBI Director Kash Patel approved a request to assist state and local law enforcement in locating the quorum-breaking lawmakers.
  • Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have issued civil arrest warrants, filed removal petitions in the Texas Supreme Court and sought Illinois court orders to enforce those warrants.
  • Absent Democrats face $500 per-day fines and could be declared to have vacated their seats if they do not return by the August 19 special-session deadline.
  • Governors J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gavin Newsom of California are sheltering the lawmakers and are preparing counter-redistricting actions in their own states.