Texas Gov. Abbott sues to remove alleged “ringleader” of Democratic walkout from office amid redistricting showdown
The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, filed a complaint Tuesday to withdraw one of the Democratic leaders of the Chamber of the State, the representative Gene Wu, calling him “leader” of the dozens of democratic legislators who left the State in an effort to block a vote on the redirement.
Abbott filed the emergency request to the Supreme Court of Texas so that Wu, who represents Houston and president of the Democratic Caucus, dismissed from his functions. The Governor threatened on Sunday, the Governor threatened to request the withdrawal of the Democratic legislators if they did not assist a session of the House on Monday afternoon.
“They did not return and have not satisfied the requirements of the quorum. The representative WU and the other Democrats of the Texas Chamber have shown a voluntary refusal to return, and their absence for an indefinite period of time deprives the room of the quorum necessary to meet and lead cases on behalf of the Texans,” Abbott wrote in a statement. “The Democrats of Texas House have abandoned their duty towards Texans, and there must be consequences.”
Abbott says that Wu has lost his elected post and that his actions, as well as those of other Democrats in the Chamber who have left the State, “constitute the abandonment of their office, justifying their withdrawal”.
The governor also alleged that Wu and other Democrats in the House “seem to have asked and have received certain advantages in exchange for stimulating a vote, supporting their withdrawal of his functions and allegations of corruption” more.
Abbott has argued in the past that Democrats can be legally removed from the office if they do not arise. He quoted a non -binding opinion in 2021 by the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, who declared that a “district court could determine that a legislator has lost his office due to abandonment and can withdraw the legislator from his functions, thus creating a vacancy”.
But Mark Jones, professor of political science at Rice University, told CBS News The only way to withdraw a legislator from Texas – other than in the ballot boxes – is by a two -thirds vote of the Legislative Assembly.
Texas Democrats break the quorum in efforts to block the redistribution vote
During the weekend, dozens of Democrats from Texas fled the state to block a vote on a redistribution plan of the congress supported by the Republicans who President Trump Before the mid-term elections of 2026, degenerating a dead end which blocked the legislative session.
The absence of the Democrats meant that the Chamber of Representatives of Texas did not have enough members present to organize a debate on a bill to redraw the districts of the Congress of the State to add five seats promoting the Republicans. This caused a republican sustained request for their civil arrest.
Abbott then ordered Texas Department of Public Safety to “locate, arrest and return any member of the Chamber which abandoned his obligation to the Texans”. However, Texas DPS has no competence outside the state. A civil arrest could force legislators at the Capitol.
A refusal of the legislators of Texas to present themselves is a civil violation of the legislative rules. During a previous upholstery of the Democratic legislators, the Supreme Court of Texas judged in 2021 that the leaders of the Chamber had the power to “physically force the attendance” of the disappeared members, but no democrat was brought back into the state after the mandates were served that year. Two years later, the Republicans have gone through new rules that allow daily fines of $ 500 for legislators who do not present themselves to work as punishment.
The Wu representative responds to the trial of Governor Abbott
In a press release at CBS Texas, Wu said that “denying the governor a quorum was not an abandonment” automatically, but it was “an accomplishment of my oath”.
“This office does not belong to Greg Abbott, and it does not belong to me,” said Wu in his declaration. “It belongs to the people of the district 137 of the Chamber, who elected me. I took an oath to the Constitution, not to the agenda of a politician, and I will not be I who will I will I will be.”
Wu also said that the governor had failed the people of Texas and “uses the courts to punish those who refused to fail” with him.
“When a governor conspires with a disgrace president to RAM through a racist card Gerrymandered, my constitutional duty is not to be a voluntary participant,” said Wu’s declaration. “When this governor holds a help in the event of a disaster for 137 dead Texans and their families hostage, my moral duty is to ring the alarm – by all the necessary means.”
Abbott wants the Supreme Court to make a decision at 5 p.m. Thursday.
“Greg Abbott tries to silence the representative of the chief of the Democratic Caucus of the Gene Wu Chamber in armaments,” said the president of the Texas Democratic Party, Kendall Scudder, in a statement. “This is a complete violation of the separation of powers so that the governor of this state thinks that he has the power to unilaterally withdraw the elected officials of elected officials simply because he does not agree with them using procedural guarantees protected by the Constitution.”
The Texas General Solicitor also said that if the Democrats in the House do not return at 1 p.m. Friday, when President Dustin Burrows put the Chamber to hold his next session, the Attorney General will continue all the available legal appeals.
