August 4, 2025: Texas House moves to allow civil arrest warrants for Democrats who fled state

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Rep. Raja Krishnamoorth speaks during a press conference in Chicago on Monday.

A collection of Democratic lawmakers from Illinois and Texas gathered for a press conference in Chicago today to slam Republicans’ effort to aggressively redraw congressional districts in Texas.

US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois and is running for Senate in 2026, warned Republicans that their redistricting efforts would be met by comparable changes in blue states.

The press conference featured members from the Texas legislature who left the state to stall progress on the GOP redistricting effort back home. Several of them made a point to push back on Republicans who have criticized their absence.

“Look, I didn’t run for office to walk out of the Capitol, but I also didn’t run for office to stand by while democracy is stolen in broad daylight,” Texas state Rep. John Bucy said. “Texas Democrats broke quorum because sometimes, the only way to uphold your oath is to refuse to play along with a rigged game.”

Bucy added that the Democrats who fled the state are “not running away,” but rather they’re “running into the fight.”

Texas state Rep. Jessica Gonzalez echoed Bucy’s pushback: “We’re elected by our constituents, and that’s who we work for. They elected us to represent their voices, their family and their future, and that’s exactly what we’re all doing here by denying Texas Republicans quorum in order to pass these rigged congressional maps,” she said.

US Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas also urged Democratic states to neutralize the GOP effort in Texas, saying that “we are going to match Donald Trump’s energy when it comes to redistricting.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin appears on CNN on Monday.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said that his party would “fight fire with fire” as Republicans drive toward a controversial mid-decade redistricting effort in Texas.

Martin echoed calls from some Democrats for blue-state governors to embark on redistricting efforts of their own, in an attempt to neutralize the impact of the Texas GOP’s effort, which could eliminate up to five Democratic-held US House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.

“If they enact this map and they actually pass this into law, I would expect Democratic governors to put every single option they can on the table to respond in kind,” Martin said.

He added, “I’ve had a lot of conversations with governors throughout this country, and they’re ready to fight fire with fire as well. Look, we can’t be the only party that plays by the rules.”

Asked about the potential complications of redistricting in California and New York, two populous states with governors who raised the prospect of retaliatory measures, Martin said, “we’re prepared to do whatever it takes.”

The DNC chair also pointed to the showdown with Texas Republicans as an opportunity for his party to demonstrate its aptitude to voters who’ve grown skeptical of their message and fight.

Dustin Burrows, the Republican speaker of the Texas House, center, speaks during a press conference on Monday, in Austin, Texas.

The Texas House speaker said he signed civil arrest warrants for Democrats who did not show up to the special session earlier today.

Dozens of Democrats fled the state in a bid to block the Republican effort to redraw congressional districts in the GOP’s favor — and officials are warning they could face consequences.

The Texas House is set to convene again tomorrow afternoon after it didn’t reach quorum earlier today.

Here’s what to know:

Correction: An earlier version of this post included the wrong location for where the Texas Democratic lawmakers are currently. They’re in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.

The civil arrest warrants issued for Democratic lawmakers who left Texas are likely unenforceable outside of state lines, according to three legal experts.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Monday he had signed civil warrants for the Democratic lawmakers who fled the state in a bid to stop a redistricting effort aimed at bolstering Republicans’ congressional majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Sarah Chen, a voting rights attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, told CNN that the civil warrants may ultimately be meaningless given that the lawmakers are outside of Texas and instead in three Democratic-led states: New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.

“That’s why this case and in previous recent quorum breaks they have left the state to escape the jurisdiction of the marshals and other arresting officers in the state,” she said.

And since the Democrats aren’t breaking any criminal or state laws, Chen said, it wouldn’t be possible for officials to seek the lawmakers’ extradition from the states they’re holed up in.

“Any sort of work with other states or federal law enforcement would be more of like calling in a favor rather than any sort of legal obligation,” she said.

Chad Dunn, a longtime Texas voting rights lawyer and legal director of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, echoed that opinion, saying Burrows’ warrants “have no authority outside of the state” unless another state chooses “to enforce them under the laws of the other state.”

Monday’s action by lawmakers to approve a civil warrant for the absent lawmakers “is just the procedure of what you do when people walk out,” said Andrew Cates, a lawyer in Texas who specializes in legislative and political law. “No one is scared of it” if they’ve left the state,” he said.

“They haven’t broken any laws that anyone knows of, so extradition is not going to work,” he added.

Correction: An earlier version of this post included the wrong location for where the Texas Democratic lawmakers are currently. They’re in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers today to investigate state House Democrats who fled Texas on potential violations of state law, including bribery, according to a statement.

The statement alleged that absentee Democratic lawmakers may “have solicited or received funds to evade conducting legislative business and casting votes.”

It also expanded the scope of those in violation of law to those who may have offered the lawmakers any funds to flee.

The Texas Rangers have been instructed to send their findings to prosecutors.

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news briefing on Monday.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that if Texas moves forward with its GOP-led redistricting plan, he would aim to put a new congressional map before Golden State voters in a special election in November.

Texas “triggered this response. … Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California. And they will pay that price,” Newsom said in a news conference.

“I hope they do the right thing. … But again, we’re working with the legislature on a trigger that if they do move forward, California will not sit by idly and watch this democracy waste away,” he said.

Some context: The governors of Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York have also suggested they will explore redrawing their own congressional district maps to add more Democratic-leaning seats, or have left the door open to doing so.

“The gloves are off, and I say, bring it on,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday.

Texas state lawmakers board a bus following a press conference in Carol Stream, Illinois, on Sunday. The group of Democratic lawmakers left the state earlier that day so a quorum could not be reached during a special session called to redistrict the state.

The outcome of the political battle over Texas’ redistricting effort is already having major implications across the country.

Other Republican-dominated states are considering following Texas’ lead as Democratic governors weigh their options to retaliate with their own mid-decade redistricting efforts.

Republican efforts: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently floated the idea of a mid-cycle redistricting in his state, telling reporters in July, “I think the state malapportioned.”

Ohio is required to redraw its congressional districts this fall because the 2022 map was struck down as unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Punchbowl News reported the White House is pushing Missouri to redraw its districts to target one of just two Democratic-held seats, that of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, in a state where the GOP holds the other six House seats. The White House has also urged Indiana to redraw districts in which Democrats hold two of nine seats.

Democrats pushing back: Meanwhile, Democratic governors in deep-blue states are plotting retribution. The governors of California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York have suggested they will explore redrawing their own congressional district maps to add more Democratic-leaning seats, or have left the door open to doing so.

The redistricting battles cannot carry on without deadlines. In many states, including Texas, candidates must file for next year’s primary ballots before the end of this year.

Read more about how gerrymandering Texas could impact other states.

Texas state Rep. Linda Garcia appears on CNN on Monday.

Texas state Rep. Linda Garcia — one of the Democrats who fled the state in a bid to block a partisan redrawing of the state’s congressional map — says she is prepared to stay out of Texas for two weeks, and then she will assess next steps. “But we are all prepared to fight,” she told CNN.

Garcia, who is currently in Chicago, says she is not bothered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issuing an order to arrest House Democrats who did not show up for the special legislative session this afternoon.

“That doesn’t bother me at all. My constituents want me to take this quorum break. It is within our legal right. I was hired by the people in my district to do what is in their best interest, not what is the best interest of Donald Trump, and not what is in the best interest of Abbott,” she said.

“I have to make sure that I do everything in my power today to represent my constituents. I’m not interested in being a lifelong politician. I am a mother… I’m an entrepreneur. I am interested in representing the members of House District 107,” she added. “So if I get removed, then I get removed. But at least I am clear in my conscience that I did everything I could in my power to stop this steal.”

Responding to Republicans pointing fingers at Illinois as a gerrymandered state, Garcia pointed out a difference.

Dustin Burrows, the Republican speaker of the Texas House, speaks during a press conference in Austin, Texas, on Monday.

Dustin Burrows, the Republican speaker of the Texas House, urged absent Democrats to return to the state, saying that he had “signed the civil arrest warrants” and that he was working with Texas law enforcement “to locate members.”

Burrows said he had spoken to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who had offered the state’s Department of Public Safety to help “establish a quorum and do this special session.”

Abbott said in a statement earlier that he ordered DPS to arrest House Democrats who did not show up this afternoon, though it’s unclear how the directive will work for lawmakers who are out of state.

Texas Democrats have fled the state in a bid to block a proposed congressional map that Republicans hope will flip US House seats in next year’s midterms.

Two of the seats are in south Texas, one each are in Houston and Dallas, and the fifth stretches between San Antonio and Austin.

Here are the Democratic members who could lose their seats under the new map:

Rep. Greg Casar speaks on CNN on Monday.

Democratic US Rep. Greg Casar of Texas compared the redistricting push by Republicans in his state to anti-democratic actions in authoritarian countries, telling CNN that “you’d probably say that democracy was on its last legs in that country, but that’s what’s happening here in America.”

Casar, who is set to lead a protest against the redistricting effort outside the Texas governor’s mansion this evening, struck a defiant tone ahead of the demonstration.

Casar also said he was concerned that Republicans’ redistricting push could lead to erosion of the Voting Rights Act, which he argued would “begin spreading this kind of voter suppression across the country.”

Casar, whose Austin-area seat would be eliminated under the new map, said that looking ahead to the 2026 midterms, “I’ve already been very clear that I’m running for office.”

“But we aren’t accepting these illegal maps,” he said. “We’re not going to just stand by and say we’re going to be pit against one another.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks with reporters as she arrives for a vote at the US Capitol on July 16.

Democratic US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a key fundraiser for her party, is calling for donations to “directly” support the Texas Democrats who broke quorum to block a vote on the state’s new congressional map.

In a fundraising email from her team, Ocasio-Cortez said proceeds will be split with former US Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s Texas political action committee, Powered By People. The PAC raised more than $700,000 for state House Democrats during a similar quorum break in 2021.

The fundraising email said Ocasio-Cortez and Powered By People are racing money “to support these lawmakers directly as Gov. (Greg) Abbott is now threatening to remove them from office.”

“These Texas Democrats took an extraordinary step to ensure that Texas Republicans don’t have the power to rig our elections,” the email said.

Some context: The lawmakers face a $500 fine each day they are not at the special session, and Abbott has suggested the Democratic legislators could face bribery charges if they accept donations to help pay the fines.

Rep. James Talarico appears on CNN on Monday.

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, who left the state alongside his fellow Democratic lawmakers in a bid to block Republicans from redrawing the Texas congressional map, said he is fighting for his constituents.

“If law enforcement arrests me, I will go peacefully. But I am doing this because I’m fighting for my constituents,” he told CNN as he discussed legal threats from Republicans amid the ongoing standoff over the controversial GOP redistricting push.

Earlier Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott warned that Democrats like Talarico who left the state could have to forfeit their seats in the legislature and potentially face bribery charges if they did not return to Texas for legislative sessions concerning the rare mid-decade redrawing of congressional lines.

Talarico compared Texas Democrats’ gambit to the actions of former president and then-state-Sen. Abraham Lincoln, who historians say once leapt out of a window to help break a quorum in the Illinois legislature in 1840.

“Thankfully, I didn’t have to jump out of a window in Texas, but we are taking part in a long American tradition of standing up to bullies, of speaking truth to power, of civil disobedience, of good trouble.” he said. “I’m incredibly proud of that, regardless of what consequences may come.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a roundtable discussion in Kerrville, Texas, on July 11.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s Department of Public Safety to arrest House Democrats who did not show up for the special legislative session this afternoon.

“To ensure compliance” with the motion passed by the present lawmakers to allow for civil arrest warrants to be issued for the absent Democrats, the Republican governor said in a statement today that the Texas Department of Public Safety will “locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans.”

“This order will remain in effect until all missing Democrat House members are accounted for and brought to the Texas Capitol,” the statement said.

Dozens of state House Democrats left Texas for cities including Chicago; Albany, New York; and Boston to block the impending vote on Texas’ newly redrawn congressional map. It is unclear how Abbott’s directive will work with lawmakers who are not in Texas.

The governor said the missing lawmakers “abandoned their duty to Texans,” according to the statement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office on May 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas.

After the Texas House did not reach a quorum today to vote on a newly drawn congressional map, Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to do “everything in my power to hold them accountable.”

The remaining state lawmakers passed a motion to allow the speaker to issue civil warrants for representatives who did not attend the special session. Many of them left the state to block a vote on the map.

“Instead of showing up to work and doing the jobs they were elected to do, House Democrat members have fled the state in a cowardly desertion of their responsibilities as elected officials. These jet-setting runaways abandoned Texas, abdicated their duties in the House, and sacrificed their constituents for a publicity stunt,” Paxton said.

The attorney general’s statement also said a state Supreme Court ruling in 2021 “held that the House could arrest absent members to secure their presence and establish a quorum” and reiterated Paxton will “continue to use every legal tool at his disposal.”

Earlier: Paxton posted on social media that he thought the lawmakers should be arrested and brought back to the state. The lawmakers also face a $500 fine each day they are not at the special session.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Monday.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced that the chamber will reconvene at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow as he adjourned today’s session.

“Members, under the rules while the House is under a call, any member who wishes to leave the hall must have written permission of the speaker. The chair is providing written permission to be entered in the journal for each member registered as present on today’s roll call to leave the chamber and return tomorrow at 1 p.m.,” Burrows announced.

The Texas House passed a motion to allow the speaker to issue civil warrants for the arrests of Democrats who did not attend today’s special session.

Dozens of them left the state yesterday to block a partisan redrawing of the state’s congressional map orchestrated by Republicans.

The motion came from state Rep. Charlie Geren and specifically called for the “sergeant of arms or officers appointed by her to send for all absentees whose attendance is not excused for the purpose of securing and maintaining their attendance under warrant of arrest if necessary.”

It passed 85-6, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced.

Before the members in the chamber voted on the motion, Burrows said he would “immediately sign the warrants for the civil arrests of the members who have said they will not be here” if it passed.

“To those who are absent, return now. Show the courage to face the issues you were elected to solve. Come back and fulfill your duty because this House will not sit quietly while you obstruct the work of the people,” Burrows said, warning there would “be consequences.”

This post has been updated with more details about the motion.

The floor of the House in the Texas State Capitol on Monday.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced that a “quorum is not present” after the state House convened without many Democrats.

Texas House Democrats left the state Sunday in a bid to block a partisan redrawing of the state’s congressional map, which was orchestrated by Republicans with the support of President Donald Trump.

He commended those who were present at the session, and criticized those who left the state and fled their duty.

“To be absolutely clear, leaving the state does not stop this House from doing its work. It only delays it. In every day this chamber is unable to act, the cost grows,” Burrows warned.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat to quickly replace Democratic state lawmakers who left the Lone Star State in a bid to frustrate the GOP-led redistricting effort would require judges and voters alike to side with him in an unprecedented legal and political gambit.

On Sunday, the Republican governor accused the scores of Democratic lawmakers who left Texas of abandoning their office. If they didn’t return by 3 p.m. CT Monday, Abbott said in a statement, he would invoke a nonbinding advisory opinion issued by state Attorney General Ken Paxton several years ago that said it would be up to state courts to decide whether lawmakers who left office to block a quorum had, in effect, forfeited their office.

Should a court conclude they had, the governor said he would lean on his powers to “swiftly” fill a vacancy through a special election.

Such a scheme would be unprecedented and raise novel legal issues that could ultimately blow it up, said Quinn Yeargain, a state constitutional law expert at Michigan State University’s College of Law.

Neither the governor nor Paxton’s earlier opinion cited any legal authority or Texas case law on the matter, Yeargain noted. That means courts would likely need to sift through a series of major questions, chief among them whether judges even have the power to intervene in such political disputes.

But even if a court concluded that it does have the authority to decide the case, the question of whether a lawmaker’s decision to leave the state constitutes “abandonment” under the law, as Abbott claims, is another major consideration for judges.

“What abandonment would mean in this context is that they went on a cruise around the world and had no desire to return, and therefore missed votes,” Yeargain said. “It cannot possibly apply to a situation where they’re strategically using the power that they have to prevent the legislature from meeting and conducting business.”