Texas governor orders arrest of Democrats absent at redistricting vote
Over 50 lawmakers left Texas to deny Republicans the quorum needed for a controversial vote on new congressional maps
Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened on Monday to arrest Democratic lawmakers who were using their collective absence from the state capital to prevent the legislature from adopting a Republican-backed plan for redrawing Texas congressional districts.
The exodus of more than 50 Democrats from the Texas legislature staging a kind of temporary political exile in Democratic-led states was intended to deny Republicans in Austin the quorum necessary to vote on the redistricting plan, championed by President Donald Trump.
By redrawing district lines in hopes of flipping some seats in the US House of Representatives currently held by Democrats, the Republican Party aims to protect its narrow majority in next year’s congressional midterm elections.
Trump has told reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans.
During Monday’s statehouse session in Austin, the Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives issued civil warrants for the wayward Democrats - most of whom have gone to Illinois, New York or Massachusetts - to be brought back to Austin.