Texas Republicans approved issuing arrest warrants for Democratic lawmakers who left the state

The Texas House of Representatives approved issuing arrest warrants for Democrats who have left the state. The measure passed 85-6, amid a Republican attempt to change and modify the electoral map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Dustin Burrows, speaker of the state House, stated that he would work with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to "track down the members" involved.

More than 50 Democratic lawmakers left Texas with the goal of knocking out the session that was to address redistricting on Monday afternoon.

"Speaker Burrows just issued a call of the Texas House and issued warrants to compel members to return to the chamber. To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to 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," Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a statemente. 

"They understand that the issues we face—disaster recovery, fighting for families who lost loved ones in the floods, human trafficking, and more—are not abstract political debates. Instead of addressing these challenges, some of our colleagues have fled the state in the line of duty," Burrows said Monday.

As for the discussion over the electoral map, that is done every ten years according to census results. The larger the population, the more seats in the House of Representatives for that state. The last map was drawn in 2021 by the Republican majority in the Texas Legislature. However, Governor Abbott is seeking to redraw it ahead of the 2026 election. Should his proposal pass, the GOP could pick up five additional seats.

On the other side, Democrats accuse Abbott of attempting an unprecedented maneuver to try to keep Republicans in the House majority next year.

For Gene Wu, chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, the governor wants to pass "an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal."

Most of the Democrats who left the state went to Illinois, under the jurisdiction of Governor JB Pritzker (D).

Democratic Response: “We’re All Ready to Fight”

Several Democratic lawmakers who fled the state have begun speaking publicly from Illinois. One of them, State Representative Linda Garcia, told CNN that both she and her colleagues are “ready to fight.”

“My constituents want me to make the most of this quorum break. It’s fully within our legal rights. The people in my district elected me to defend their interests—not Donald Trump’s or Greg Abbott’s. (…) So if I get removed, I get removed. But at least I’ll know I did everything I could to stop this theft,” she said, adding that she is not concerned about the arrest warrant.

State Representative Jolanda Jones also questioned the legality of the warrant issued by Governor Abbott: “I’m an attorney. There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says. So respectfully, he’s making up some s**t. He has no legal mechanism.”

Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, joined in criticizing Texas Republicans: “Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, they said they wanted a showdown. And guess what? That’s exactly what they’re getting. A showdown. This is not the Democratic Party of your grandfather, right, which would bring a pencil to a knife fight. We’re bringing a knife to a knife fight. We’re going to do everything we can right now to stand up against this unconstitutional power grab.”

“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. 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”, he added.