Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) implied he will seek the nuclear option of asking a court to vacate the seats of Democrats who refused to show up in order to stall a redistricting vote.
About 50 Democratic state legislators fled the state on Sunday to prevent the legislature from calling a quorum Monday and voting on a measure that would likely help Republicans gain seats in the U.S. Congress.
‘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.’
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) signed arrest warrants for the Dems and ordered the sergeant-at-arms to find and bring the members back to the chamber, but those warrants are not enforceable beyond the borders of Texas.
On Tuesday, their absence prevented a quorum for a second day.
“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,” read a statement from Paxton. “Starting Friday, any rogue lawmakers refusing to return to the House will be held accountable for vacating their office.”
Democrats have accused the Texan Republicans of seeking to redistrict just to appease the wishes of President Donald Trump so that he can increase Republicans’ chances of keeping control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.
RELATED: ‘Just a waiting game’: AG Paxton tells Glenn Beck what fate awaits absentee Texas Democrats
Other states, including California and New York, have threatened to redistrict their maps as well in order to counterbalance the efforts in Texas.
Paxton has admitted that the process of replacing Democrats would be laborious and tedious.
“We’d have to go through a court process, and we’d have to file that maybe in districts that are not friendly to Republicans,” Paxton said Monday. “So it’s a challenge because every district would be different.”
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Ken paxton vs tex dems, Texas democrats flee, Quorum breakers, Dems vs redistricting, Politics
