Dems say a bomb threat made at their hotel and other redistricting updates

Texas House Democrats said a bomb threat was made at the hotel outside of Chicago where they are staying, prompting an evacuation Wednesday morning.

“We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rep. Ramón Romero of Fort Worth and Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Rep. Barbara Gervin Hawkins of San Antonio said in a joint statement.

“We are grateful for Governor Pritzker, local, and state law enforcement for their quick action to ensure our safety."

Some members including state Reps. John Bucy of Austin and Ann Johnson of Houston also blamed the rhetoric from Texas Republican leaders, such as Attorney General Ken Paxton, for the threat.

“Paxton told his supporters to 'hunt us down' — but we won't be silenced,” Johnson said in a post on X.

The attorney general’s office didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.

— Alex Nguyen

In an unprecedented escalation in GOP efforts to resume legislative business and redraw congressional districts, Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove Houston Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, from office.

Wu said the Democrats would stay out of the state long enough to allow the special legislative session's remaining two weeks to run out. In his legal filing, Abbott argued that amounts to an abandonment of office and is sufficient grounds to have Wu’s seat vacated.

“What is at stake here? Nothing less than the future of Texas,” Abbott wrote. “If a small fraction of recalcitrant lawmakers choose to run out the clock today, they can do so for any, and every, Regular or Special Session, potentially bankrupting the State in an attempt to get their way.”

Wu argued that denying a quorum "was not an abandonment of my office," but "a fulfillment of my oath" of office to abide by the Constitution.

"When a governor conspires with a disgraced president to ram through a racist gerrymandered map, my constitutional duty is to not be a willing participant," Wu said in a statement, in which he accused Abbott of seeking to "silence my dissent by removing a duly-elected official from office."

— Eleanor Klibanoff

Gov. Greg Abbott has warned Texas House Democrats that he would initiate removal proceedings if they do not return to Austin to pass the GOP’s proposed new congressional maps.

The Republican governor’s Sunday threat came after more than 50 Democrats left the state Sunday afternoon so the Texas House would not have the necessary number of members present to pass legislation.

“This truancy ends now,” Abbott said in a letter sent to each of the departed members, telling them to return to the Texas Capitol by 3 p.m. Monday.

In threatening to remove the elected officials from office, Abbott cited a nonbinding 2021 legal opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who 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.

— Eleanor Klibanoff

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said on Tuesday that more Democratic governors around the country could consider mid-decade redistricting in retaliation for Texas' plan.

"Every governor and other electeds are going to have to make their own decisions about what they do," Martin said after appearing at a news conference Tuesday with Texas Democrats. "All of them feel, as I do, that this is a serious matter that requires us to put every option on the table."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have already said they are looking at plans to redraw their states' congressional maps to further advantage Democrats.

Martin also said that the DNC was committed to "doing everything we can to help resource" Texas Democrats during their walkout. He dismissed claims by Gov. Greg Abbott that Democrats, in addition to anyone fundraising or donating to their cause, could be committing felony bribery crimes.

"Every one of these veiled threats that he has made is an empty threat," Martin said about Abbott.

"There are millions of people around the country who are giving money to this cause right now because they're sick and tired of this despotic, authoritarian regime basically doing whatever the hell they want to run roughshod on our Constitution and the rights of Americans," he added. "So you know what? Bring it.”

— Kayla Guo

President Donald Trump said Republicans are “entitled” to more congressional seats in Texas in a Tuesday morning interview on CNBC.

“I won Texas,” Trump said. “I got the highest vote in the history of Texas. And we are entitled to five more seats.”

Trump last year had the highest-ever number of votes in a presidential election in Texas, whose number of voters have grown along with its overall population. But Trump didn’t set a record for his margin of victory in Texas.

Trump pushed Texas Republicans to pursue mid-decade congressional redistricting, including personally lobbying Gov. Greg Abbott on the issue. Texas’ pursuit of more GOP-friendly seats spurred state House Democrats to flee the state to block the Legislature from passing new maps. The redistricting effort has also kicked off a redistricting arms race between red and blue states around the country.

In the CNBC interview, Trump praised Abbott and lambasted Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who helped Texas House Democrats coordinate the logistics of their trip to Illinois and has participated in press conferences with them.

Calling Pritzker, “the dumbest of all governors”, Trump said Democrats fleeing to Illinois, where Democrats drew a congressional map that heavily favors their party, was hypocritical.

“They go to Illinois for safety, but that’s all gerrymandered,” he said.

Trump further complained about the lack of Republican congressional representation in states like California and Massachusetts, despite winning close to 40% of the vote, echoing comments made by Vice President JD Vance.

Trump won 56% of the 2024 presidential vote in Texas. Under the current map, Republicans hold two-thirds of Texas’ congressional seats; the new map aims to raise that to 79%.

— Gabby Birenbaum

This article was adapted from our premium politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today.

At least six Texas House Democrats are in Austin, as sergeants fan out to bring truant members back to the Capitol.

Speaker Pro Tempore Joe Moody, D-El Paso, checked in at the quorum call. So did Democratic Reps. Terry Canales of Edinburg, Oscar Longoria of Mission, Armando Martinez of Weslaco and Richard Raymond of Laredo. Sergio Muñoz of Mission failed to register present but was on the floor. Multiple members say Bobby Guerra of Mission was also in the Capitol.

Canales and at least two other Democrats have met with Speaker Dustin Burrows “to talk about what sort of changes we could institute to the maps,” Canales told The Blast. During his press conference later, Burrows declined to comment on his conversations with Democrats, and the speaker’s office did not confirm Canales’ claim.

“There’s different ways to fight, and one of them is to show up and try to negotiate,” Canales said.

Canales told The Blast he can’t leave because he has five children and, as a practicing attorney, he has court obligations.

“I applaud what my colleagues are doing and I stand with them, but leaving is not an option for me,” Canales said.

He added that the outcome is inevitable, that the quorum break will eventually end, and that it’s important for some members to remain to keep a dialogue with the speaker.

For what it’s worth, Canales predicted that the House won’t have a quorum tomorrow.

— Renzo Downey

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, on Monday called on Democratic governors from New Jersey, Maryland, Washington and Oregon to lend their support to Texas Democrats in their fight against a new congressional map designed to give the GOP five new congressional seats next year.

“We are going to match Donald Trump’s energy when it comes to redistricting,” Veasey said at a news conference in Illinois on the first full day of the Democrats’ walkout from Austin, a move meant to bring the Texas House to a standstill and delay adoption of the map. “We are not going to unilaterally disarm, and that’s what’s different this time around.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York have already indicated their interest in taking up mid-decade redistricting in their states as retaliation for Texas’ plan, which was demanded by Trump ahead of a potentially difficult midterm election for Republicans next year.

Texas Democrats at Monday’s news conference reiterated their determination to fight the effort, adding that they were representing their constituents by walking out on the ongoing special session. Republicans have blasted Democrats for leaving Texas, suggesting that they are abdicating their duties as elected officials.

“We’re not running away — we’re running into the fight,” state Rep. John Bucy of Austin said. “This isn’t political theater. It’s survival, because if we lose the power to choose our leaders, we lose everything.”

— Kayla Guo

More than 100 people picketed in front of the governor's mansion Monday night in protest of what some demonstrators described as the latest escalation from Republican state leaders to silence members of the state's minority party and the people they represent.

Led by U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, the crowd marched in circles in a parking lot in front of Gov. Greg Abbott's home chanting and waving signs with messages like: "Fight The Trump Takeover," "Put Texans First," and "Hey Greg Come and Take It."

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, also joined the demonstration.

Susan Nayak, a 56-year-old Austinite, helped hold up a banner at the foot of the steps leading to the governor's mansion, whose gates had been shut.

"He's taking away the voice of the people," Nayak said. "I would like them to withdraw this illegal redistricting and not go after the Democrats for trying to call attention to their illegal activities."

Across the way stood Cliff Kaplan with an alfaia drum, concerned about what he said was an escalating division in the state's politics. He banged the drum, ringing a hollow sound, as the crowd marched in front of him.

"The state of Texas in this case appears to be putting the president's interests ahead of Texas'," Kaplan, of Austin, said.

— Alejandro Serrano

Redistricting was not the only matter facing Texas lawmakers before House Democrats left the state Sunday. Gov. Greg Abbott, in calling lawmakers back to Austin this summer, gave them a lengthy to-do list. Most is unresolved.

Most notable is the state’s response to the July 4 Hill Country floods. Also on the agenda is:

• Regulating THC
• Limiting property taxes

• Cracking down on abortion pills
• Eliminating the STAAR test

Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether he plans to call additional special sessions later this year if Democrats run out the clock on the current session, scheduled to end on Aug. 19. The governor is authorized to call as many special sessions as he wants. And he has called several in the past. In 2023, he called four.

Continue reading here.

— Colleen DeGuzman

Texas Republican leaders on Monday vowed to track down and arrest more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block the GOP from redrawing the state’s congressional boundaries.

Shortly after 3 p.m., state House members voted to give House Speaker Dustin Burrows the power to issue civil warrants for each of the legislators, which in turn empowers the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms and state troopers to arrest and bring them to the Capitol.

The Democrats will not face civil or criminal charges from the arrests. And the warrants apply on in Texas, making them mostly symbolic. Most Democrats who left the state are in Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

Democrats left the state Sunday afternoon to deny the House a quorum — the number of people necessary for the chamber to advance legislation — and delay passage of a new congressional map. A vote by the entire chamber was expected today.

The House used the same tactic to try to force Democrats back to work in 2021, when a majority of them left for Washington, D.C., to protest GOP voting restrictions. Some of the lawmakers challenged the warrants in court, obtaining an injunction against arrests that was later struck down by the Texas Supreme Court.

Gov. Greg Abbott reaffirmed his commitment to bring the Democrats back. saying in a statement he had mobilized the Texas Department of Public Safety to assist in the effort to bring the missing members back to the chamber.

Continue reading the story here.

— Eleanor Klibanoff

Appearing alongside five Texas House Democrats in Albany, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she and Democratic state legislators there are exploring ways to quickly pursue mid-decade redistricting.

Hochul slammed the Texas redistricting effort as a racist attempt to disenfranchise voters of color and hold onto congressional power. Calling out Abbott and Republican President Donald Trump, who pushed for the mid-decade redistricting, she said redrawing districts now is “legal insurrection” — meaning Republicans are using the legal process — meant to “drag us towards authoritarianism.”

New York has an independent redistricting commission which would be legislatively complicated to undo. But Hochul said the Texas threat is dangerous enough to warrant abandoning the principle of independent map-drawing. New York, she said, should not have to abide by rules that Republican states do not have.

“I cannot ignore that the playing field has changed overnight,” she said. “Shame on us if we ignore that fact and cling tight to the vestiges of the past. That era is over. Donald Trump eliminated that forever.”

To do so, New York Democrats are exploring a constitutional amendment allowing the Legislature to redraw congressional maps if another state pursues it first. It would need to pass through the Legislature twice and then be approved by voters in a ballot referendum, meaning new maps could not be used until the 2028 election cycle — a full cycle later than Texas, if the Texas Legislature is able to pass its redistricting bill. That would coincide with the next presidential election.

Hochul also said that the Texas House Democrats in Albany plan to leave New York this afternoon, though they did not say what their next destination will be.

At the press conference, Texas Democrats panned the notion that Abbott or any other Texas Republican could compel them to return or arrest them for leaving.

State Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, said denying a quorum is not a felony.

“Respectfully, he’s making up some shit,” Jones said. “ He’s trying to get soundbites, and he has no legal mechanism. And if he did, subpoenas from Texas don’t work in New York.”

— Gabby Birenbaum

The Texas House’s redistricting committee approved a proposed congressional map Saturday that could flip five U.S. House seats currently held by Democrats. The proposed new district boundaries target Democratic members in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas.

The 12-6 vote to send the proposal to the full Texas House fell along party lines and came after the committee heard from Texans who are largely opposed to the plan. That vote happened after Republicans acknowledged they are redrawing the congressional map to advantage Republican candidates, setting aside a legal justification offered by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Different from everyone else, I’m telling you, I’m not beating around the bush,” said state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican carrying the bill. “We have five new districts, and these five new districts are based on political performance.”

Currently, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 House seats. Trump carried 27 of those districts in 2024, including those won by Democratic U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen.

— Eleanor Klibanoff, Kayla Guo and Gabby Birenbaum