AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers had barely left the state to stall a vote on a redrawn congressional map when Republicans started lobbing threats of steep fines, arrests, criminal investigations and even removal from office.
But there are barriers to following through on the tough talk that's come from Gov. Greg Abbott on down, just as the Democrats’ effort may not stop Republicans from ultimately approving the map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up his party's 2026 midterm prospects.
Legal experts and even Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton say it would be difficult to enforce consequences against the Democratic lawmakers while they are safely camped out in sympathetic Democratic-controlled states and effectively out of reach of Texas law enforcement looking to bring them home.
Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate, threw out some of the earliest calls for arrests. But even he has called enforcing the various threats “a challenge.”
“Until they show up themselves back in Texas, sometimes it's hard to actually execute on that," Paxton said in interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson. "That's one reason they choose Democratic states. It becomes very difficult to execute those warrants when we can't get the cooperation of other states,"
Paxton's opponent in the 2026 GOP primary, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, on Tuesday asked the FBI to “take appropriate steps” to help Texas authorities find the lawmakers.
By leaving Texas for Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, the Democrats prevented the 150-member state House of Representatives from reaching a quorum for a scheduled vote on the new U.S. House voting map. Trump hopes to pick up five Republican seats from Texas in 2026.
Republicans hold an 88-62 majority in the House, and the Texas Constitution requires at least 100 members be present to do business. With at least 51 Democrats absent, the House failed to reach a quorum Monday and again Tuesday.
Democrats have used the tactic before, in 2003 over a congressional redistricting bill and again in 2021 over an elections bill. But eventually, they had to return to the Capitol where Republicans used their majorities to pass the measures.
The current special session ends Aug. 20, but Abbott can keep calling lawmakers back to the Capitol to pass the redistricting bill.
Rules in the Texas House rules allow for fines of $500 every day the Democrats are absent. The House also issued civil warrants for the missing lawmakers to be arrested and returned to the House. Abbott then ordered state troopers to help find the lawmakers and bring them back.
Abbott also said the lawmakers could be removed from office for vacating their office. But that would require navigating new legal territory and could take months.
That effort would stem from a nonbinding legal opinion Paxton issued in 2021 that said the state could sue the lawmakers to have their seats declared vacated. Paxton said that could be a long process that would require individual lawsuits filed against each missing lawmaker, sometimes in district courts he said would not be friendly to Republicans.
Still, Paxton said Tuesday that he will press ahead with the lawsuits if the lawmakers don't return by Friday.
“Democrats have abandoned their offices by fleeing Texas, and a failure to respond to a call of the House constitutes a dereliction of their duty as elected officials,” Paxton said.
Some influential Republican lawmakers have stopped short of the same call to force them out of office.
“We'll see where it goes,” said state Sen. Charles Perry. "It’s a tall order to remove an elected official from the Legislature.”
Abbott also ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate possible bribery charges related to how the Democrats are paying for their quorum break, alleging anyone who financially helped them leave the state could be culpable.
State Rep. James Talarico, one of the Democrats who left, encouraged donations to support their effort.
“Folks can donate to help us fund this quorum break. And we’ve already been inundated with donations from across the state of Texas, from across the country,” Talarico said. “Just regular people donating five, 10, $15. And that’s appropriate because this fight is for the people and it should be funded by the people.”
David Froomkin, an assistant law professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said the removal effort and bribery charges would be on weak legal ground, and the threats of arrests and investigations are more likely meant to intimidate.
“It’s much more aggressive hardball than we have seen in battles over the quorum requirement,” Froomkin said. “In general in this country today, we’re seeing incumbents be much more inclined to make aggressive use of their power in order to try to maintain their power."
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Nadia Lathan in Austin, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed..
Jim Vertuno, The Associated Press
