Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Watch As Texas Dems Throw Tantrum, Storm Out Before Losing Redistricting Vote

Screenshot/Rumble/Dallas Morning News

Democrats in the Texas state Senate walked off the floor Tuesday without preventing passage of new congressional districts in that body.

Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives fled to Democratic-controlled states like New York and Illinois in order to thwart a special session of the body to consider redistricting that could net Republicans multiple seats in the United States House of Representatives. The new congressional map passed by a 19-2 vote after nine Democratic state senators walked out, the Texas Tribune reported.

The new map would place Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar, Greg Cesar, Al Green and Julie Johnson into districts that President Donald Trump won by at least 10.4% in the 2024 presidential election, according to an interactive map on the Texas Tribune’s website. Republicans currently have 219 members of the House of Representatives, compared to 212 Democrats with four vacancies.

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“We stand in solidarity with our House Democrat brothers and sisters,” Democratic Texas state Sen. Carol Alvarado said, according to the Texas Tribune. “Our options here to push back and fight in the Senate are pretty limited, so we’re using every tool that we have.”

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas announced Friday he was asking a court to declare the seats of the fleeing Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives vacant, accusing them of carrying out an “out-of-state rebellion.”

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows listed measures the body was taking in response to the Democrats’ decision to flee the state during Friday’s effort to secure a quorum.

“I have activated a new policy stating that any member absent for the purpose of breaking quorum will no longer have their paycheck or per diem deposited electronically. While the Constitution forbids us from withholding pay, it does not dictate how we issue the pay,” Burrows said. “Those checks must now be picked up in person, on the Capitol grounds, effective immediately.”

“Starting today, to safeguard taxpayer dollars and account for forthcoming liabilities, under rule five section three of house rules which authorizes fines for members absent without leave, 30% of each quorum breaking members operating monthly budget will be reserved and made unavailable for expenditure,” Burrows continued. “Absent members must also appear in person to approve or enact any of the following: requests for travel reimbursement, personal action requests including those increasing or decreasing staff salaries.”

Republicans have pointed to congressional maps carried by Democrats in recent elections when criticized about the proposed maps. California is represented by 43 Democrats and nine Republicans after the 2024 elections, as opposed to 40 Democrats and 12 Republicans after the 2022 midterm elections, according to Ballotpedia.

New York redrew its congressional districts after the 2022 midterm elections, creating a map that endangered as many as six out of the 11 Republicans initially elected to the House of Representatives in that state. Democrats had 19 seats to seven for Republicans when the votes were tallied after the 2024 election, according to Ballotpedia, a gain of three seats after a Democrat won a special election caused by the expulsion of Republican Rep. George Santos of New York.

Illinois Democrats redrew their congressional districts to take out two Republicans, including then-Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a prominent outspoken critic of Trump, prior to the 2022 midterm elections. Illinois, which lost a seat in the 2020 census, went from 13 Democrats and five Republicans to 14 Democrats and three Republicans in the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterms, according to Ballotpedia.