The third week of the Texas special session has been dominated by a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over congressional redistricting. More than 50 Texas House Democrats left the state at the start of the week in protest of a proposed congressional map that would potentially net Republicans five additional U.S. House seats while “cracking and packing” districts in Dallas and Houston with historically greater numbers of Black voters.
The absence of these lawmakers has prevented the House from reaching a quorum, the two-thirds threshold required to conduct legislative business.
In response, state leadership has escalated efforts, many of which are seemingly illegal, to compel their return. Gov. Greg Abbott has backed civil arrest warrants issued by House Speaker Dustin Burrows, although enforcement outside Texas remains uncertain. Abbott has floated the idea of possible felony bribery charges for lawmakers who accept funds in support of the walkout and has threatened to vacate their seats due to “abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office.” Sen. John Cornyn has gone so far as to invite the FBI to track down Democrats out of state.
Legal experts have raised questions about the applicability of such charges, including whether the walkout constitutes abandonment of office.
National attention on the standoff has grown, with President Donald Trump stating he “deserves” to pick up five more Republican seats and Cornyn revealing that the FBI had agreed to his request to help track down dozens of Democratic Texas state lawmakers who left the state. Meanwhile, calls have emerged for Democratic-led states to consider redistricting countermeasures in response.
The standoff has effectively frozen other priorities outlined in the governor’s special session call. Measures related to disaster response remain pending (though many argue Abbott has more than enough authority to act on flood mitigation efforts and support families hurt by the recent flooding), alongside property tax relief proposals and legislation to regulate consumable hemp products. Education-related bills are also stalled, including proposals to change the STAAR exam and replace it with a three-exam assessment system.
The special session is set to conclude on Aug. 19, but the walkout and redistricting dispute have created significant uncertainty about whether any of the proposed measures will advance.