Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he would begin trying to remove Democratic lawmakers from office yesterday if they do not return after dozens of them left the state in a last-resort attempt to block redrawn US House of Representatives maps that US President Donald Trump wants before the midterm elections next year.
The revolt by the Democrats, many of whom went to Illinois or New York on Sunday, and Abbott giving them less than 24 hours to come home ratcheted up a widening fight over congressional maps that began in Texas, but has drawn in Democratic governors who have floated the possibility of rushing to redraw their own state’s maps in retaliation. However, their options are limited.
At the center of the escalating impasse is Trump’s pursuit of adding five more Republican-leaning congressional seats in Texas before next year that would bolster his party’s chances of preserving its slim majority in the US House of Representatives.
Photo: Reuters
The new congressional maps drawn by Texas Republicans would create five new Republican-leaning seats. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats.
A vote on the proposed maps had been set yesterday in the Texas House of Representatives, but it cannot proceed if the majority of Democratic members deny a quorum by not showing up.
After one group of Democrats landed in Chicago on Sunday, they were welcomed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, but declined to say how long they were prepared to stay out of Texas.
“We will do whatever it takes. What that looks like, we don’t know,” said Representative Gene Wu, the Texas House Democratic Caucus leader.
Legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, including in 2021 when many of the same Texas House Democrats left the state for 38 days in protest over new voting restrictions.
Abbott is taking a far more aggressive stance and swiftly warning Democrats that he would seek to remove them from office if they are not back when the House reconvened yesterday afternoon. He cited a non-binding 2021 legal opinion issued by Attorney General Ken Paxton, which suggested a court could determine that a lawmaker had forfeited their office.
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