Texas Democrats flee state and face $500-a-day fines in determined transfer to dam Republican redistricting | EUROtoday

Texas House Democrats fled the Lone Star State on Sunday in an effort to frustrate Republican makes an attempt to redraw its electoral map to their very own benefit forward of the 2026 midterm elections, risking day by day $500 fines and even arrest.

The Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting superior the GOP’s proposals on Saturday, establishing a full House vote this week.

The conservatives maintain a majority within the chamber, as they do within the Texas Senate, which means the gerrymandering to revise the state’s 38 congressional districts would probably cross. It would create 5 further right-leaning seats within the U.S. House of Representatives, doubtlessly increasing the congressional GOP’s majority and easing the passage of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.

Faced with that prospect, 51 opposition Democrats departed for Illinois, New York and Massachusetts over the weekend in an try and deny the Republicans a quorum, with two-thirds of the state’s 150-member legislative advanced required to be in attendance for enterprise to proceed.

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“We’re not here to have fun,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu instructed reporters in Carol Stream, Illinois, flanked by members of his delegation and Governor JB Pritzker as he spoke.

“We’re not here because this is easy, and we did not make a decision to come here today, we did not make a decision lightly.

“But we come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is the… absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas.”

The representatives have the help of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in using the tactic, which Texas Democrats additionally deployed in 2003 and 2021, with DNC Chair Ken Martin saying in an announcement: “The DNC is proud to support these legislators in standing up and showing real leadership.

“We will fight alongside them to stop this anti-democratic assault. And, after this fight is done, we’re coming full force for the Republicans’ House majority.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries likewise expressed help, saying the group was displaying “courage, conviction and character.”

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The determined measures is not going to come with out private penalties for the lawmakers concerned within the exodus, every of whom stands to be fined $500 for daily they’re away for breaking quorum.

They may additionally face arrest.

“Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, fumed on social media. “We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, additionally a Republican, wrote: “The Texas House will be convening at 3.00pm tomorrow [Monday]. If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table…”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott introduced the rebels with the identical deadline and warned they are going to be faraway from workplace in the event that they fail to indicate up.

For his half, Illinois Gov. Pritzker, talking alongside Wu, mentioned: “We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that – ’cause we know they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law.”

The redistricting push in query would have an effect on the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houstin and Rio Grande Valley areas and will encourage retaliatory measures by Democrats in blue states.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his counterparts in New York, New Jersey and Illinois have already mentioned they’d be open to replotting their very own electoral maps to additional isolate conservative blocs.

Redistricting usually takes place as soon as a decade to account for pure inhabitants shifts and is overseen in lots of states by non-partisan committees, though not in Texas.