Texas Democrats flee state to prevent vote on redrawing congressional map
About 30 Democrats said they planned to flee to Illinois, where they plan to stay for a week, to thwart Republican efforts by denying them a quorum, or the minimum number of members to validate the vote's proceedings.
In a statement, Texas Democrats accused their counterparts, the Texas Republicans, of a 'cowardly' surrender to Donald Trump's call for a redrawing of the congressional map to 'continue pushing his disastrous policies'.
'Texas Democratic lawmakers are halting Trump's plan by denying his bootlickers a quorum,' the statement read.
The scheme to flee the state is reported to have been put together by the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, who met with the Texas Democratic caucus late last month and has directed staff to provide logistical support for their stay.
The Texas group has accused Texas governor Greg Abbott of withholding aid to victims of Guadalupe River flooding last month in a bid to force the redistricting vote through.
'We're leaving Texas to fight for Texans,' Gene Wu, the Texas House Democratic caucus chair, said in a statement. 'We will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander.'
'We're not walking out on our responsibilities; we're walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent,' Wu added. 'As of today, this corrupt special session is over.'
Last week, Texas Republicans released a proposed new congressional map that would give the GOP a path to pick up five seats in next year's midterm elections, typically when the governing party loses representation in congress.
The areas affected by the redistricting plane would target Democratic members of Congress in and around Austin, Dallas and Houston, and two districts in south Texas that are Republican but nudging closer toward Democrat control.
The plan to flee the state is not without potential consequences. Members of the Texas Democrats face a $500-a-day fine and possible arrest, a measure that was introduced in 2023, two years after Democrats left the state for three weeks to block election legislation that included several restrictions on voting access.
Ultimately, that bill passed but not before Democrats were able to claim something of a moral victory after stripping the measure of some of its provisions.
The latest plan to leave the leave the state came after a House committee approved new congressional maps on Saturday.
'This map was politically based, and that's totally legal, totally allowed and totally fair,' Cody Vasut, a Republican state representative and committee member, told NBC News.
Vasut pointed to disparities in other states, including California, New York and Illinois, where the weighting of seats to votes is strongly in Democrats favor.
'Texas is underperforming in that. And so it's totally prudent, totally right, for Texas to be able to respond and improve the political performance of its map,' he said.
The political backdrop to the Texas redistricting fight colors Pritzker into the picture of a national fight. Pritzker, a billionaire member of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, is seen as looking toward a bid for the 2028 Democrat presidential nomination.
In June, he addressed Democrats in Oklahoma where he met privately in a 'robust' meeting to discuss about Texas redistricting, according to NBC News. He later met with Texas Democrats, where offered assurances he would find them hotels, meeting spaces and other logistical assistance.
The absence of the Democrats on Monday threatens to derail other issues Abbott is tabling, including disaster relief after to the deadly central Texas floods last month.
'Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,' Texas's attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a post on X. 'We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.'
Texas house speaker Dustin Burrows said that if, at 3pm on Monday, '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'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump's NASA chief Sean Duffy expedites timeline for nuclear reactor on the moon
President Donald Trump's NASA chief Sean Duffy has expedited the timeline to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to a directive obtained by The Independent . The space agency has already mentioned the benefits of developing fission surface power (FSP) on the moon and Mars. 'Relatively small and lightweight, fission systems are powerful and could enable robust operations on the Moon and Mars,' NASA writes on its website. The agency says it's currently working with the Energy Department and the space industry to design a fission power system that would provide at least 40 kilowatts of power. In a directive sent to the heads of NASA on July 31, Duffy, the acting administrator of the agency and Trump's transportation secretary, ordered that the nuclear reactor provide at least 100 kilowatts of power and be ready to launch by 2030. NASA chief Sean Duffy has expedited the timeline to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to a new directive () The directive, first reported on by Politico, mentioned China and Russia's joint effort to place a reactor on the moon by the mid-2030s. The two U.S. adversaries first announced their plans in March 2024. 'The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first,' Duffy warned in the directive. NASA's Artemis campaign aims to establish the first long-term presence on the moon. During Trump's inaugural address, he said the U.S. would launch astronauts 'to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.' 'It is about winning the second space race,' a NASA senior official told Politico. An artist's concept of a fission power system on the moon (NASA) In Duffy's new timeline, a Fission Surface Power Program Executive will be designated within 30 days of the directive. The executive 'is empowered to provide reporting and updates with maximum transparency directly to the Administrator,' Duffy wrote. Within 60 days, NASA will ask for industry proposals for the nuclear reactor, according to the directive. The directive mentioned Trump's budget request for the 2026 fiscal year, which includes $350 million for a new program 'that will accelerate the development of high priority technologies for Mars, (i.e. FSP).' The funding would increase up to $500 million starting in the 2027 fiscal year. Trump's budget request also proposes a huge cut to NASA, with The Planetary Society, a global non-profit space organization, reporting it's the smallest budget proposed for the agency since 1961.
Daily Mail
11 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Controversial statue toppled during Black Lives Matter protest to be reinstalled under Trump
A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled and burned in Washington D.C. during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 will be reinstalled under President Donald Trump. The National Park Service announced on Monday that its crews are working to restore and reinstall the bronze sculpture of Confederate Brigadier General Albert Pike that once stood in the nation's capital. It was the only statue depicting a Confederate leader in Washington DC until demonstrators used ropes to pull down the structure outside of the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters. They then doused the figure in lighter fluid and set it ablaze on live television. President Trump - then in his first-term - immediately called for the statue to be put back up, but it has remained in storage ever since. Officials now hope to get the statue back up by October, as they shared a photo of a worker removing corrosion and paint from the site. 'Site preparation to repair the statue's damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints and mounting elements,' the National Park Service said. It added that the move to reinstall the statue is in accordance with executive orders Trump signed to beautify Washington DC and restore 'truth and sanity to American history.' Under the order, Trump directed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to determine whether statues have been removed since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 to 'perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' The Pike statue has long been a source of contention in Washington DC. It was originally dedicated in 1901 at the behest of the Freemasons, who successfully lobbied Congress to grant them land for the statue they said would honor Pike's 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry. Congress agreed to give the Masons the land so long as Pike would be depicted in civilian, and not military clothing. The DC City Council called for its removal for the first time in 1992, and Delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced multiple bills in Congress to get it removed in the decades that followed, NBC Washington reports. One such resolution referred to Pike as a 'chief founder of the post Civil War Ku Klux Klan,' a claim the Masons strongly deny. But Pike did lead a regimen of Native Americans in Arkansas who sided with the Confederacy and were accused of scalping Union troops in an 1862 battle. He eventually received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson for his wartime actions and went on to become a prominent member of the Freemasons. During the riots in 2020, protesters spray painted the statue, decrying Pike as a 'racist' and sharing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. It was one of many such Confederate statues toppled that summer, which Trump decried in his first term. 'Very sad to see States allowing roving gangs of wise guys, anarchists & looters, many of them having no idea what they are doing, indiscriminately ripping down our statues and monuments to the past,' he tweeted at the time. 'Some are great works of art, but all represent our History & Heritage, both the good and the bad. 'It is important for us to understand and remember, even in turbulent and difficult times, and learn from them. Knowledge comes from the most unusual of places!' The president also hit out at police for 'not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn[ed]' after it was reported that officers did not respond to the scene until approximately an hour after the crowds gathered - despite police headquarters being mere feet away, WUSA reports. By then, the statue had already been toppled and torched, with officers left only able to extinguish the flames. In the years since, Delegate Holmes Norton has lobbied for the statue to be placed in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in locations that imply honor,' she told WUSA on Monday. 'President Trump's longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is morally objectionable,' she continued. She went onto claim that Pike 'served dishonorably' and noted that he 'took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds and was ultimately imprisoned by his fellow own troops. He resigned in disgrace after committing a war crime and dishonoring even his own Confederate military service.' Holmes Norton then announced that she will take action to prevent the statue from going back up. 'Given the NPS announcement today that it will restore and reinstall the statue, I plan to reintroduce my bill, which would permanently remove the statue of Pike and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity,' she said. 'A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of DC,' she declared.
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: political battle in Texas escalates and president under fire for firing labor statistics chief
Texas governor Greg Abbott on Monday ordered the department of public safety to arrest and return any House member who had left the state and 'abandoned their duty to Texans', as Democrats thwarted plans to redistrict the state along lines that would favour Republicans. 'There are consequences for dereliction of duty,' Abbott said in a statement on Monday, after the Republican-dominated House issued civil arrest warrants in an attempt to compel the return of the members who fled the state in order to deny the legislature a quorom. 'This order will remain in effect until all missing Democrat House members are accounted for and brought to the Texas Capitol.' Democrats hold 62 of the 150 seats in the legislature's lower chamber, so as long as at least 51 members remain out of Austin, the Texas legislature cannot move forward with any votes, including a plan to redraw the state's congressional maps to give Republicans five more seats in Congress. Here are the key US politics stories of the day: Texas Democrats in the state legislature denied its speaker a legislative quorum Monday by leaving the state, forestalling plans proposed by the White House to redistrict Texas's congressional lines to more greatly favor Republicans. Texas governor Greg Abbott has threatened arrest, fines, felony charges of bribery and expulsion against the lawmakers. Read the full story The former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioners and non-partisan economic groups have criticized Donald Trump's shock firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July jobs report data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer. Read the full story About 600 former Israeli security officials, including previous heads of the Mossad and the military, have urged Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza as the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, considers expanding the conflict. In an open letter, the former officials said an end to the war was the only way to save hostages still held by Hamas. Read the full story Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza. Read the full story More than 40 people protesting the war in Gaza and worsening humanitarian crisis were arrested outside the Trump International hotel in New York City on Monday evening. Read the full story Donald Trump's special envoy is expected in Moscow days before the US president's deadline on Friday for Russia to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine or face increased US sanctions. Trump said Steve Witkoff would visit Moscow on Wednesday or Thursday. When asked what message Witkoff would take to Russia and what Vladimir Putin could do to avoid new sanctions, the US president answered: 'Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.' Read the full story The US state department has prepared plans to impose bonds as high as $15,000 for some tourism and business visas, according to a draft of a temporary final rule. The bonds would be issued to visitors from countries with significant overstay rates, under a 12-month pilot program. Read the full story The Trump administration is seeking to block veterans from receiving abortions at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs in cases of rape or incest, or when a veteran's pregnancy has imperiled their health, according to new paperwork filed by the administration. Read the full story The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country's president has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff. News Corp, part of the Murdoch family media empire, has announced it will bring a version of the brash rightwing New York tabloid to California in early 2026. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she feels the Republican party has lost touch with its base – but she said she has no plans to leave the party. More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian. Catching up? Here's what happened on 3 August 2025.
