Texas Democrats arrive in Illinois to block vote back home on redrawn House maps sought by Trump

A confrontation in Texas about the rebounded American chamber cards requested by President Donald Trump degenerated strongly on Sunday, when dozens of Democratic legislators left the State to block a vote, followed by the Republican Governor Greg Abbott warning them that he would ask for their withdrawal from his functions if they do not come back.

The revolt of the Democrats, and Abbott giving them until Monday to return home or to face efforts to strip them of their elected posts, pushed an extended struggle on the Congress maps before the mid-term elections in 2026 in a new territory. In the center of the in-depth impasse is the prosecution by Trump of five other seats at the winning congress which will help strengthen the chances of the GOP to preserve their slim majority in the United States.

In response to the rare Texas political Gerrymander in the middle of the decades, Democratic governors have launched the possibility of redrawing the cards of their own state in retaliation, but their options are limited.

Many Democrats in Texas were intended for Illinois and a welcome from Governor JB Pritzker, a potential presidential candidate in 2028, who in recent weeks offered them support.

The president of the Democratic Caucus of the Gene Wu Chamber refused to say how long the legislators were ready to stay outside of Texas, and it was not clear if the gambit would succeed. Four years ago, the Democrats of the Chamber left Texas for 38 days to protest against the new voting restrictions that ended up once the holdout is finished.

“We will do everything you need. What it looks like, we don’t know,” Wu said at a Sunday evening press conference.

Legislators cannot adopt bills in the Texas Chamber of 150 members without at least two thirds of them present. The Democrats hold 62 seats in the mainly republican chamber and at least 51 have left the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the Democratic Caucus of the Chamber. In addition to those of Illinois, delegations of Democratic legislators left Texas for Boston and Albany, New York, among others, representative Trey Martinez Fischer said.

Abbott threatened to request the dismissal of the legislators, claiming that they did not meet under the constitution of the State.

“This absence now ends,” Abbott said in a statement published on Sunday evening by his office. Abbott also suggested that legislators may have committed crimes by collecting funds to help pay the fines they would face.

The Chamber’s Republican President Dustin Burrows said the room would still meet as scheduled on Monday afternoon.

“If a quorum is not present then, to borrow recent discussion points from some of my democratic colleagues, all the options will be on the table …”, he posted on X.

Republican prosecutor General Ken Paxton, who presents himself in the American Senate, said on X that the Democrats who “try to flee as cowards should be found, arrested and immediately brought back to the Capitol”.

A refusal of the legislators of Texas to present themselves is a civil violation of the legislative rules. The Supreme Court of Texas judged in 2021 that the leaders of the Chamber had the power to “physically compel the attendance” of the disappeared members, but no democrat was brought back to the state after the mandates were signified 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.

By calling for the abolition of the legislators, Abbott cited an uncompromising legal opinion which was issued by the Paxton office after the 2021 revolt by Democratic legislators.

The rupture of the Quorum will also delay votes on flooding of floods and new warning systems following the catastrophic floods last month in Texas who killed at least 136 people. The Democrats had called for votes on the response of the floods before taking over and criticized the Republicans so as not to do so.

The Texas Republicans last week unveiled their new planned American house card that would create five new Republican seats. The Republicans currently hold 25 of the 38 seats of the State.

Pritzker, who was one of Trump’s most frank criticism during his second term, had been in silent talks with Texas Democrats for weeks to offer support if they chose to leave the state to break the quorum.

Last week, the governor welcomed several Democrats from Texas in Illinois to publicly oppose the redistribution effort, and the governor of California Gavin Newsom organized a similar event in his own state.

Pritzker also met in private the Democratic President of Texas, Kendall Scudder, in June to start planning the possibility that the legislators leave for Illinois if they decided to break the quorum to block the card, according to a source with direct knowledge which required anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“It is not only the rigging of the system in Texas, it is a question of fueling the system against the rights of all Americans for the years to come,” said Pritzker on Sunday evening.

Now, with the Democrats of Texas locked up in Illinois and blocking the Congress card supported by Trump, the scene can be ready for a high -level confrontation between Pritzker and the President.

Trump seeks to avoid a rehearsal of his first mandate, when the Democrats overthrew the room at only two years in his presidency, and hopes that the new Texas card will help this effort. Trump officials also planned to redraw the lines in other states, such as Missouri, according to a person familiar with conversations but unauthorized to speak about it publicly.

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The writer Associated Press, Nadia Lathan in Austin, contributed to this report.