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Gov. Greg Abbott informed Texas House Democrats late Sunday that he would attempt to have them removed from office if they do not return to Austin to pass the GOP’s proposed new congressional maps.
The Republican governor’s late-night missive came after more than 50 Democrats left the state Sunday afternoon so the Texas House would not have a quorum — the number of lawmakers needed to consider and pass legislation under chamber rules — aiming to halt all legislative activity for the remainder of the special session slated to end later this month. They are hoping to stop the passage of a new congressional map, drawn at the direction of President Donald Trump, that could net five additional seats for Republicans in the 2026 midterms.
“This truancy ends now,” Abbott said in a letter sent to each of the departed members. “The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025.”
If they are not back by then, Abbott said, he would initiate legal action to remove them from office, kicking off a potentially lengthy and complicated legal process. Under state law, the attorney general or a local district attorney would have to file what’s known as a quo warranto lawsuit against each member, seeking their removal on the grounds that they have abandoned their office.
Legal experts say there would be no grounds for a judge to rule that participating in a quorum break warrants removal from office. In 2021, in ruling that the Legislature could order the arrest of lawmakers who were absent without excuse, the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court acknowledged that the Texas Constitution allows for members to deprive the House or Senate of a quorum. In alleging that he would seek to oust Democrats from office, Abbott cited a nonbinding 2021 legal opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who merely said it would be up to a court to decide whether a lawmaker who had left the state to deny quorum had forfeited their office.
“The founding fathers of Texas very intentionally wrote a constitution that gave a minority of legislators the ability to influence legislation in this way,” said Charles “Rocky” Rhodes, a constitutional law expert at the University of Missouri law school. “The constitution also provides consequences, which was part of a calculation to ensure if this was done, it wasn’t done all the time.”
The absconded Democrats will face a $500 fine for every day they are absent, as well as possible reprimand, censure or expulsion, per House rules. But to expel a member, the House must have a quorum.
Even if Abbott did get a judge to rule that the Democrats’ seats are vacant, he would still have to call an election to fill each vacancy. That would likely produce few opportunities for Republican pickups, with most of Texas’ 150 House districts — including the 62 controlled by Democrats — crafted by Republicans in 2021 to protect GOP incumbents, leaving few competitive seats for either party to challenge.
The vacancies could temporarily reduce the number of legislators required to reach a quorum, but experts say the legal process to establish those vacancies would likely drag out long enough to become moot for the 2026 elections.
Abbott further alleged members could face felony charges for fundraising to pay their fines. Lawmakers who are “soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules” may be violating bribery laws, Abbott said, adding that anyone who donates to the cause could also be liable.
The governor said he would move to extradite “any potential out-of-state felons.” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said at Sunday’s press conference that he would do whatever he could to help Texas lawmakers while they were on the lam.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them,” Pritzker said.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus, the organizing group for House Democrats, responded to Abbott’s threats with a four-word statement that read, “Come and take it.”
Democrats have condemned the mid-cycle redistricting as a racist and partisan attack on Black and Hispanic voters, as well as an unnecessary distraction from passing legislation to address the devastating Hill Country floods that left 130 people dead. The proposed map, which is expected to be brought to the House floor for a vote Monday, carves up existing districts in Houston, Dallas and Austin, and is expected to net five additional seats for Republicans.
GOP state lawmakers have defended the process, arguing they are permitted to redraw maps for partisan gain between the usual once-a-decade redistricting process that happens after each U.S. census.
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