A confrontation is developing in Texas when Governor Greg Abbott threatens to eliminate the Democrats who have fled the State in protest of the effort led by Republicans to create a new map of Congress.
Abbott said that the Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives have until 3 pm local time on Monday to return to the state house for the special session or risk losing their work. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suggested that the Democrats who left should be arrested and brought by force.
He answer From the democratic Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives to the threat of Abbott was: “Come and Tomalo”.
The Democratic members who abandoned the State are scheduled to celebrate several events throughout the day on Monday in the states led by the Democrats.
The proposed Congress map, backed by President Donald Trump, could create up to five new Republican seats and help Republicans maintain camera control in the mid -period elections of 2026. The consideration of the bill had been established for Monday, but cannot proceed if the Democrats deny a quorum.
The State Capitol is seen on July 21, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty images
Democrats celebrate events in New York, Massachusetts and Illinois
The first press conference with Texas Democrats on Monday was with New York Governor Kathy Hochul in Albany.
“We will not sit aside while the Republicans try to manipulate the system to give Donald Trump more power without control,” Hochul said in a statement. “Texas Democrats are defending the future of our democracy, and I am proud to be with them in the fight against the deprivation of rights.”
The Democrats of the House of Representatives of Texas who have attended Massachusetts for the summit of the National Conference of State Legislators will join the governor of Illinois JB Pritzker for a press conference in Boston on Monday at 1 PM et. Then, the Democrats of the Texas House of Representatives who have met at Illinois will hold a press conference with Democratic members of Congress in Chicago.
Pritzker accused Trump Sunday of “manipulating” the new Texas maps for despair and concern that, due to his policies, he was in danger of losing the republican majority of the House of Representatives in Washington. The governor of Illinois also warned that the recently proposed maps established a dangerous precedent throughout the country.
“This is not just manipulating the system in Texas,” said Pritzker. “It is about manipulating the system against the rights of all Americans in the coming years.”
Abbott, Paxton threatens the action against Democrats
Abbott, in his warning to the Democrats of the House of Representatives of Texas, said that leaving the State in protest was equivalent to “abandonment or confiscation of a elected state office.”
“The true Texans do not flee from a fight,” Abbott said in the statement. “But that is exactly what the majority of the Democrats of the Texas House of Representatives have just done. Instead of doing their job and voting on urgent legislation that affects the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the quorum camera necessary to fulfill and carry out business.”
Abbott said that if they did not return at 3 pm local time on Monday, he would invoke the opinion of the Texas Attorney General No. KP-0382 to eliminate the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas Chamber. In addition, he claimed to the legislators that they left “may also have committed serious crimes” through the collection of funds to pay the $ 500 fine to risk accumulating every day they are absent.
Paxton, in a publication on social networks, wrote that “the Democrats in the house of Texas who try to escape as cowards must be found, arrested and returned to the Capitol immediately. We should use all the tools at our disposal to hunt those who think they are above the law.”
What is at stake?
The new map of Congress was proposed by Texas Republicans after a Trump impulse for the most favorable maps for Republicans to help the party keep the majority in the camera in 2026. Currently, the Republicans of the Chamber are operating with a narrow majority.
Trump has said he wants Republicans to collect five new seats in Texas and others throughout the country. The Democrats have criticized the measure and said they run the risk of damaging minority voters.
As the Distriction Redistribution Battle is heated, a House Republican will introduce legislation to prohibit the reduction of the decade of the Maps of Congress throughout the country.
The representative of the Republican Party of California, Kevin Kiley, will formally present the bill on Tuesday that “will annul the new maps adopted by the states before the 2030 census, including those adopted this year.” However, the future of the bill remains uncertain, since it is unlikely to be supported by the republican leadership of the Chamber.
ABC News Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
