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3h ago

Texas Republicans Escalate Redistricting Push as Exiled Democrats Face Return Deadline

A Friday deadline for Texas Democrats to return has triggered GOP arrest warrants, removal lawsuits, a threat to redraw the map with up to eight more Republican seats.

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 Texas House Democrats remain in California, Illinois and other states under the protection of Governors Gavin Newsom and J.B. Pritzker, denying the two-thirds quorum needed to vote on a mid-decade congressional map.
  • Gov. Greg Abbott signed civil arrest warrants and filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court to remove absent lawmakers if they do not return by Friday.
  • Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched lawsuits to vacate the seats of exiled Democrats and is seeking to enforce Texas arrest warrants in Illinois’s courts.
  • Sen. John Cornyn announced that FBI Director Kash Patel approved federal assistance to locate the fleeing legislators, raising questions about federal jurisdiction in a state legislative dispute.
  • Abbott warned he may expand the GOP plan to add up to eight additional Republican-leaning districts if Democrats stay away, prompting plans for retaliatory redistricting by Democratic governors.