Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, on Sunday, threatened to arrest and even remove quorum-busting “derelict Democrats” from the state assembly if they fail to return from hiding in time for today’s special session.
“Real Texans do not run from a fight,” Abbott said in a statement. “But that’s exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did.”
Abbott called the session last month to debate, among other issues, a special mid-cycle redistricting effort that would likely eliminate five Democrat seats from the Texas delegation to the U.S. Congress. Democrats responded in a totally grown-up way by fleeing to Illinois, where they could hide under Gov. JB Pritzker’s ample protection.
Dem donors reportedly raised funds to cover living expenses and the Texas House’s $500-a-day fine for skipping work.
Quorum denied, the special session is effectively in limbo.
In a statement late Sunday, Abbott said he would invoke a 2021 opinion written by GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton, allowing him “to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House” if they remain in hiding.
Going further, Abbott warned that hiding Democrat lawmakers could face felony charges.
“In addition to abandoning their offices, these legislators may also have committed felonies,” Abbott wrote. “Many absentee Democrats are soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules. Any Democrat who ‘solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept’ such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws.”
Paxton isn’t fooling around, either. He warned last month that his office “stands ready to assist local, state, and federal authorities in hunting down and compelling the attendance of anyone who abandons their office and their constituents for cheap political theater.”
He can do it, too, according to Texas Scorecard publisher Michael Quinn Sullivan:
The Texas Constitution gives the governor the power to declare a vacancy in a legislative seat. If a legislator does not show up for a special session, it would be reasonable for @GregAbbott_TX to assume they have moved or are otherwise incapacitated, rendering them incapable of… https://t.co/kZLV4QtU0z
— Michael Quinn Sullivan 🇺🇸 (@MQSullivan) July 15, 2025
We watched last fall as California — which Democrats gerrymandered into GOP near-oblivion — virtually stole three Republican seats in broad daylight as they drew out the vote count for a month. You know, until the necessary number of Democrat ballots somehow turned up.
Maryland is so well gerrymandered for the Dems that their House delegation of eight includes just one Republican. Massachusetts has zero. Pritzker’s Illinois is one of the most blatant gerrymander offenders. Colorado is still 50-50 at four seats each, but believe me when I tell you the Republicans will be down to two safe seats after our next redistricting.
Worse, Biden-era fun and games at the U.S. Census Bureau likely denied at least three or four congressional seats to Texas and Florida, to the benefit of blue states Minnesota and Rhode Island. Were it not for so-called “sanctuary” cities playing host to illegal aliens, the GOP would likely have another half dozen seats — or more.
Long before embracing meta-cheating at the Census Bureau, Democrats played hardball on redistricting — and Republicans used to know how to play that game, too. In Texas, the GOP seems to have regrown a spine.
So to all those Democrats howling about Texas, let me quote Dracula: “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”
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