Texas governor orders arrest of Democrats who left US state to block redistricting vote

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the arrest of Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block a controversial vote on new congressional maps. 

“Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans,” Mr Abbott said in a statement on Aug 4. “I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans.”

The governor’s move escalates a standoff with Democrats with two weeks left in the state legislature’s special session, which was also set to address other issues from a cannabis ban to

July’s deadly floods

in central Texas.

Republican lawmakers proposed a redistricting plan last week that Democrats describe as a gerrymander designed to give more seats in the US Congress to the GOP.

The unusually timed revamp of Texas’ congressional districts mushroomed into a national spectacle over the weekend with the Democrats’ departure.

US President Donald Trump has made the revamp a priority in his goal of bolstering Republican power in the 2026 midterm elections. In response, Democratic governors such as California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Kathy Hochul have discussed retaliating with new maps of their own. 

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” Mr Gene Wu, the Democratic leader in the lower house of the Texas legislature, said at a news conference in Illinois after leaving the state. “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.”

By departing the state, Democrats will leave the Texas legislature short of the minimum number of lawmakers required to hold votes. They will be fined US$500 (S$644) a day due to a rule adopted in 2021 after the caucus broke quorum over voting legislation.

Earlier, Mr Abbott cited the Texas attorney-general’s view that a district court may decide if the legislators’ departure amounts to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected office, a ruling that the governor said would empower him to “swiftly” replace them. He added that the Democratic lawmakers may have committed felonies with the move.

Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton, who is running for the Republican nomination for US Senate, said he supported the speedy arrest of “jet-setting runaways” who left the state during the legislative session. 

“This is cowardice and dereliction of duty, and they should face the full force of the law without apology,” Mr Paxton said in a tweet. 

Democrats fired back at Mr Abbott by casting doubt on whether he could legally remove them from office or have them charged with felonies. Many have gone to the Chicago area, with others journeying to Boston and Albany, New York. 

“There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says,” Ms Jolanda Jones, a Texas state representative and Democrat, said on Aug 4 at a news conference in Albany with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “He’s trying to get sound bites and he has no legal mechanism.”

Ms Hochul called the Texas redistricting effort a “blatant power grab.” 

“We are at war and that’s why the gloves are off,” she said. 

She called for disbanding New York’s bipartisan redistricting committee, which draws the state’s congressional map every ten years. But lawmakers would have to amend the state constitution to redistrict out of schedule, Ms Hochul said, making it impossible to establish new maps by the 2026 midterm elections. 

The US Justice Department sent a letter to Texas officials in July arguing that four of the state’s congressional districts were racially gerrymandered. All four seats cited were won by Democrats in 2024. Mr Trump then called on Texas Republicans to push through redistricting to help defend the party’s slim majority in the US House in 2025’s midterm elections. 

Republicans currently control 25 of the state’s 38 seats in the US House, or about 66 pre cent. Mr Trump won 56 per cent of the votes in Texas in 2024’s presidential election. 

The state typically revamps its congressional maps every 10 years based on new census information. It most recently redistricted in 2021 after a data delay caused by the pandemic. Those maps were already considered favorable toward Republicans and spurred lawsuits.

More than two decades ago, Democrats fled to neighbouring states in a bid to foil a redistricting effort. The move was unsuccessful. BLOOMBERG