Greg Abbott’s Fight With Texas Democrats Is a Dangerous Escalation
Leaving the state capital, and then leaving the state, to deny the majority party a legislative quorum to do outrageous things is not a new tactic in Texas politics. In 2003, Republicans suddenly decided to conduct a second congressional redistricting way off schedule to boost the GOP’s odds of controlling the House. Democrats left Austin to protest the audacious move, which eventually succeeded after a standoff of about a month. This gambit has now returned, as Democratic Texas lawmakers absconded to Illinois and New York on the eve of a special session to rush through a new, heavily gerrymandered congressional map demanded by Donald Trump. Their temporary lodgings in safely blue states are designed to thwart arrest warrants that will be issued instantly demanding their return. The idea is for them to stay away at least for the duration of the special session, forcing Republican governor Greg Abbott to call a new one after a few weeks more of defiance.
So we’ve seen this movie before. But in an entirely new twist, Abott is now threatening to declare the seats of absent Democrats vacant and replace them with Republicans to give him a true one-party legislature:
Gov. Abbott says if House Dems don’t return by 3PM tomorrow, he’ll move to declare their seats vacant & replace them—citing an AG opinion on lawmakers abandoning office. He also warns fundraising to dodge quorum fines could be a felony and vows to seek extradition.@cbsaustin pic.twitter.com/cgn8uWGcWs
— Abigail Velez (@velez_tx) August 4, 2025
The attorney general authorizing this supreme Abbott coup is Ken Paxton, the mega-MAGA scandal magnet who is seeking to displace Republican senator John Cornyn in a vicious primary next year and needs all the partisan street cred he can muster. What began as a Democratic protest over an unnecessary mid-decade gerrymander designed to give the GOP five new House seats may soon morph into a Democratic protest against a power-hungry governor usurping the public’s right to choose legislators. Even if Abbott goes there with Paxton’s support, the scheme would appear to require action by judges to actually remove the recalcitrant Democrats, so its feasibility is in question. The governor’s threats of extradition requests and fines for absences are less surprising, though he may have overreached by asserting the authority to jail legislators for raising private money to pay those fines.
Effective or not, Abbott’s rapid escalation of the partisan warfare in Texas could have an impact on Democratic-controlled states mulling retaliation, most notably California. Governor Gavin Newsom is currently planning to ask the legislature to approve a constitutional amendment temporarily removing a nonpartisan redistricting system that voters would need to approve in a November special election. Another is Illinois, whose own Democratic governor, J.B. Pritzker, is hosting the largest group of legislative refugees from Texas, though opportunities for new Democratic House seats in Illionis are limited. With both Texas parties dialing their rhetoric right up to 11 at the very beginning of what is likely to be a protracted battle, the odds of any sort of expeditious or amicable resolution are pretty close to zero. This has already become a national battle of messaging and posturing (“Real Texans do not run from a fight,” began Abbott’s announcement threatening the Democrats) that will likely bleed right over into a savage set of midterm contests.
This all began with Donald Trump, of course, who is fretting about losing the House in 2026 and very much wants to rig the map. As The Bulwark’s William Kristol noted today, the White House’s current strategy is “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.” His ground troops in Texas got the memo.
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