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| Texas house meets without necessary number of lawmakers after Democrats left state | Texas house meets without necessary number of lawmakers after Democrats left state |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Top state Republicans had set Friday deadline before Democrats who have left face arrest or removal from office | Top state Republicans had set Friday deadline before Democrats who have left face arrest or removal from office |
| US politics live – latest updates | US politics live – latest updates |
| The Texas house of representatives reconvened without the necessary number of lawmakers to conduct business on Friday, the deadline set by top state Republicans for Democrats who have left for blue states to return before they face consequences for their absence.. | |
| In recent days, Republican leaders in Texas have threatened the more than 50 Democrats who left the state last week with arrest and possible removal from office if they continue to deny a quorom and forestall an effort by Donald Trump and his GOP allies in the state to redraw the Texas maps mid-cycle and secure a Republican House majority in the 2026 midterms. | |
| During the short house session on Friday Dustin Burrows, the speaker, said state authorities were working to make civil arrest warrants against the Democrats enforceable outside Texas. He also announced that the legislature was withholding the Democrats’ direct deposit payments, requiring absent members to pick them up in person at the capitol in Austin. | |
| “Each one of you knows that eventually you will come back,” Burrows said, addressing the absent Democrats from the chamber floor. “But with each passing day, the political cost of your absence is rising, and it will be paid in full.” | |
| Other Republican leaders had also set a Friday deadline. Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, has said he will try to go to court to have them removed from office if they do not return by Friday, and on Thursday evening Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, told NBC News he was also prepared to escalate his tactics. | |
| “We are in the process as we speak right now of searching for, preparing to arrest Democrats who may be in Texas, may be elsewhere,” Abbott said in the interview. | “We are in the process as we speak right now of searching for, preparing to arrest Democrats who may be in Texas, may be elsewhere,” Abbott said in the interview. |
| Democrats have said they plan to stay away for “as long as it takes” to blunt Trump’s redistricting effort. But Abbott has said that they would have to stay away for years to be successful. The current special legislative session, called by the Texas governor, lasts until 19 August, but Abbott has vowed to call “special session after special session after special session”. | |
| “But I’ll tell you this also, Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue,” Abbott said in the NBC News interview. “That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there.” | “But I’ll tell you this also, Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue,” Abbott said in the NBC News interview. “That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there.” |
| In a separate interview, he said he might push for more than five seats. | In a separate interview, he said he might push for more than five seats. |
| “What I’m thinking now is that if they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding,” he said. “We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.” | “What I’m thinking now is that if they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding,” he said. “We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.” |
| Tensions have escalated dramatically since the Democrats left Texas and sought refuge in Democratic states. The Republican-led state house has approved civil arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers, and Abbott took the extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit with the state supreme court that seeks to remove Gene Wu, the house Democratic leader, from office. | |
| The court has asked Wu to respond by Friday to Abbott’s emergency petition to remove him from his Houston-area seat. | |
| On Thursday John Cornyn, the Texas senator, said the FBI had agreed to assist in locating the Democrats, but the FBI declined to comment and it is unclear what authority federal law enforcement would have, as they are not charged with federal crimes. | |
| “For those who have fled to Illinois or California, be reminded that the FBI’s assistance has reportedly been enlisted and their powers are not confined to a single state’s boundaries,” Burrows said on Friday. | “For those who have fled to Illinois or California, be reminded that the FBI’s assistance has reportedly been enlisted and their powers are not confined to a single state’s boundaries,” Burrows said on Friday. |
| One Democratic member of the Texas state house, Claudia Ordaz, said in a statement that state troopers had showed up at a relative’s home looking for her, even though she had stated publicly that she was dealing with a “personal health matter”. In the statement Ordaz said she was sharing from a hospital waiting room, the lawmaker denounced the officers’ visit as an “deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic” while also criticizing those she said had “falsely accused” her of being present in the chamber to help Republicans make a quorum. | |
| Earlier on Friday, the St Charles police department confirmed that the Illinois hotel where some of the quorum-breaking Democrats are believed to be staying had experienced a second bomb threat. It comes days after an initial bomb threat at the Q Center Hotel, in suburban Chicago. | Earlier on Friday, the St Charles police department confirmed that the Illinois hotel where some of the quorum-breaking Democrats are believed to be staying had experienced a second bomb threat. It comes days after an initial bomb threat at the Q Center Hotel, in suburban Chicago. |
| Several Texas Democrats were in Sacramento on Friday to meet with the California governor, Gavin Newsom, who has threatened to respond in kind with a new congressional map that would offset the seats Republicans stand to gain in Texas if the president’s push is successful. |