Greg Abbott Threatens to Expel Texas Democrats as They Thwart Redistricting
Source: Newsweek
Published Aug 04, 2025 at 3:37 AM EDT Updated Aug 04, 2025 at 3:38 AM EDT
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to remove "derelict Democrats" from the state's House of Representatives if they fail to return by Monday afternoon. The threat came after numerous Texas Democrats left their home state and traveled to Illinois in an effort to prevent the state legislature from holding a vote that would approve Republican-backed redistricting maps.
In a letter to the Democrats, Abbott wrote: "Real Texans do not run from a fight. But that's exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did... rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business."
Why It Matters
Abbott's threat intensifies the face-off over Republican efforts to redraw the districting map in Texas to bolster the party's chances of retaining the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans in other states facing significant battleground contests have looked to follow a similar path.
Republicans have slim majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate, giving Democrats hopes of retaking at least one of the Houses of Congress in next year's elections.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-threatens-remove-fleeing-texas-democrats-redistricting-map-2108313
Expel them all and you render your entire state House unable to operate at all until a quorum is achieved... whenever.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I can't see this going well.
That jackass has no idea when to quit.
the state House would STILL be dead in the water with no quorum. And like what happened in TN, where the GOP "expelled" the "Two Justins" (Pearson and Jones), and held special elections for the seats, their constituents merely voted them back into office. 
Just sayin' ....
Link to tweet
@cbs11jack
·
Follow
This is the Texas Attorney General Office’s opinion from @KenPaxtonTX in 2021 that @GregAbbott_TX referenced in his letter last night to House Democrats who left TX to break quorum to prevent debate today on HB 4, the newly drawn Congressional maps by Republicans. @CBSNewsTexas
Image
Image
Image
Image
9:23 AM · Aug 4, 2025
Fuck you Greg Abbott, you illegally installed Fox News psychopath! 
The Texas governor's court threat could take months to resolve — despite a fast-approaching redistricting deadline.
Link to tweet
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/04/greg-abbott-texas-democrats-redistricting-00492100
What are Abbott’s legal options?
Federal laws allow states to demand the return, or “extradition,” of criminal fugitives from other states. But because breaking quorum is not illegal, Abbott can’t seek help from the courts to compel the Democrats’ return.
Instead, Abbott threatened to take another action against the absentee lawmakers: Ask Texas courts to remove them from office altogether. State law permits a Texas district court to determine whether a public official has “abandoned” his or her office, declaring it vacant — enabling the governor to set new elections to fill the empty seats......
The governor’s threat is rooted in a nonbinding legal opinion issued in 2021 by Attorney General Ken Paxton, amid the last attempt by Democrats to break quorum. Paxton, notably, took no position on whether breaking quorum is constitutional.
The republican AG also declined to say whether fleeing Democrats could or should be removed from office. Rather, he called it a “fact question for a court” that he said was beyond the scope of his office to decide. He noted instead that he could file what are known as “quo warranto actions” in court, asking a judge to determine whether the missing lawmakers had officially vacated their seats.
How would a judge make that call? Paxton said he wasn’t certain.
“We find no constitutional provision or statute establishing an exhaustive list for why a vacancy occurs or the grounds under which an officer may be judicially removed from office,” he wrote......
That timing matters when the GOP-led redistricting plan is on a fixed timeline: A new map must be adopted by early December in order to be in place for the 2026 midterm cycle. That would require Democrats to remain out of state for about four months while they accumulate $500-per-day civil fines. The current special Legislative session is slated to end on Aug. 19, but Abbott could call another one.
Here is an announcement by Paxton. Legally, Paxton should file 57 different lawsuits against each member of the legislature who is absent. It seems that Paxton may be filing only one lawsuit
Link to tweet
This will be fun to watch