Overview

• At least 51 of 62 Texas House Democrats remain in Illinois and New York, denying the two-thirds quorum needed for the redistricting vote
• Governor Greg Abbott has levied $500 daily fines on absentees, threatened to remove them from office and secured civil arrest warrants to force their return
• President Trump and Senator John Cornyn have signaled possible FBI intervention to locate and apprehend the missing legislators
• Democratic governors J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gavin Newsom of California have sheltered fleeing lawmakers and vowed reciprocal redistricting measures
• In mid-July the Justice Department urged Texas to redraw four districts over minority-voting concerns, but Republicans pressed ahead with the map aimed at boosting their narrow House majority