Runaway Texas Dems must return to Austin to cash their taxpayer-funded pay



Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) announced new administrative changes in an attempt to force Democrats who have fled the state to return.

Texas Democrats have left the state they serve in favor of Illinois in order to avoid having to pass a redistricting plan they claim will unfairly result in more Republican districts.

Since breaking quorum — which refers to the minimum number of members required to conduct state business — the state of Texas has directed the Texas Rangers to locate the missing Democrats. The state has also worked with the FBI, while at the same time issuing arrest warrants. The Democratic representatives still have not returned.

On Friday, Speaker Burrows announced new rules that will likely put a damper on his colleagues' trips to the Midwest.

'They won't be arresting anyone.'

Along with Comptroller Kelly Hancock, Burrows said he has enacted a policy that will prohibit any House member who is breaking quorum from having his or her paycheck or per diem deposited electronically.

"The Constitution forbids us from withholding pay. It does not dictate how we issue the pay," the speaker said from his podium. "Those checks must now be picked up in person on Capitol grounds, effective immediately."

Burrows then announced that the missing members will also be forfeiting a portion of their living and travel expenses.

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"Starting today, to safeguard taxpayer dollars and account for forthcoming liabilities ... 30% of each quorum-breaking member's monthly operating budget will be reserved and made unavailable for expenditure," Burrows announced.

It remains to be seen if the threat of going unpaid will work on the group of Democrats who so far have been comfortable with abandoning their constituents and becoming fugitives in their own state.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said in a press conference this week that the FBI has only been authorized to locate Democrats, not arrest them, and therefore he welcomes them to come and see "the beauty of Lake Michigan."

"They won't be arresting anyone because there is no U.S. federal law that prohibits those Texas House Democrats from being here in the state of Illinois," Pritzker explained.

However, Burrows said on Friday he is working on that aspect of the issue, as well.

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Burrows announced that he was collaborating with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the hopes of making the arrest warrants for Democrats "enforceable beyond Texas state lines."

Additionally, the Texas speaker said he has contacted the sergeant at arms of the Illinois House of Representatives to request assistance in returning the absent members.

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Democrats ‘defend democracy’ by ditching it



Texas Democrats have once again fled the state — not in the face of danger or persecution, but to block a vote they know they’ll lose.

This time, they’re trying to derail a redistricting plan that would likely establish five more Republican districts. Rather than face the debate, they bolted. Gov. Greg Abbott responded by ordering the Texas Rangers to investigate the absent legislators for potential violations of state law, including bribery.

Voters should recognize that these performative walkouts have nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. They’re tantrums — undemocratic and unaccountable.

This isn’t a new tactic for Democrats in Texas. In 2003, they fled to a motel in Ardmore, Oklahoma, to block another redistricting vote. Eleven Senate Democrats later fled to New Mexico in a failed attempt to stop the plan. In 2021, Democrats once again abandoned their posts — this time flying to Washington, D.C. — to obstruct a bill that tightened mail-in voting rules and curbed 2020-era voting expansions in Harris County. That bill passed too.

Now they’re repeating the act, claiming to “defend democracy” from Republican gerrymandering while retreating to safe blue havens like Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York. One Democrat compared the new redistricting map to the Holocaust (she later apologized). Others predictably called the plan “racist.” Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries flew to Austin for “closed-door meetings,” and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to pursue their own gerrymanders back home.

The hypocrisy is as plain as it is tedious.

As journalist Matt Kittle noted in the Federalist, this brand of protest isn’t just ineffective — it’s absurd. Wisconsin Democrats tried something similar in 2011, fleeing to Illinois to block a bill that curbed public-sector union power. Then-Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans passed it anyway using a procedural maneuver to overcome the quorum requirement.

Kittle also pointed out the irony: The Democrats’ sanctuary states — Illinois, New York, California — are among the most gerrymandered in the country. Yet those states don’t seem to trouble the “defenders of democracy.”

It’s easy to see why Texas Democrats like Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Al Green want to preserve a system that favors them. What’s harder to see is what they hope to gain from this stunt. They have no leverage. Their absence ensures failure. Even as political theater, it’s weak and self-defeating. It makes them look unserious and incapable of governing.

Rep. Salman Bhojani, one of the Texas Democrats who fled, may not return at all — he reportedly needs to leave the country for a “family medical emergency.” His constituents in Euless should ask: Who’s representing them now?

But most won’t ask. Most don’t even know who Bhojani is. And that’s the deeper problem.

Too many state legislators are anonymous placeholders. They win office by running with a “D” or “R” next to their names. They stay in office because they’ve been there before. Their constituents rarely track their votes or positions — many wouldn’t even recognize their representative if they saw them on TV.

Bhojani faced no opponent in his last election. Apart from donors and staffers, almost no one in Euless likely knows who he is — until now that he’s left the country and quite likely his job.

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Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

So what kind of democracy is this?

If lawmakers go unchallenged, remain largely unknown, and face no accountability for skipping out on their duties, can we really call this democratic representation? And if redistricting efforts aim to align political boundaries more closely with population centers — rather than carve out safe enclaves for party operatives — might that not restore some of the lost accountability?

At present, most lawmakers serve parties and donors, not voters. The party ensures they run unopposed or draws the district to guarantee victory. The campaign is just a formality. Once elected, they vote the party line and maybe dabble in social media branding.

Right now, this is more a problem for Democrats than Republicans. But that could easily flip. Voters of all stripes should recognize that these performative walkouts have nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. They’re tantrums — undemocratic and unaccountable.

Republicans in Washington and across red states should follow Texas’ lead: Call the bluff, pass the bills, and begin the work of restoring actual representative government. That’s what voters want — left, right, and center.

Gov. Abbott threatens to remove from office 'derelict' Democrats who abdicated their duties



Texas House Democrats fled the Lone Star State for the District of Columbia in July 2021, denying Republicans a quorum — the Texas Constitution requires two-thirds of the state House to be present to conduct legislative business — and thereby temporarily preventing the passage of legislation that would improve election integrity.

This strategic play, celebrated by then-Vice President Kamala Harris and other radicals, was not the first time state Democrats had abdicated their duties in order to thwart the execution of the people's will. Texas Democrats also fled to New Mexico in 2003 in order to prevent a vote on redrawing congressional districts in Republicans' favor.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott suggested in response to the 2021 holdout, which lasted 38 days, that Democrats could be arrested. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan signed 52 arrest warrants for the absentee lawmakers, but no one was ultimately held to account.

'Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.'

Years after confirming that they could torpedo the democratic process without consequence, Texas House Democrats have once again fled the state — this time to prevent their GOP colleagues from advancing new congressional maps that would give Republicans five more pickup opportunities ahead of the midterm elections.

Abbott indicated on Sunday that unless the "derelict Democrat House members" return to Texas and show up when the House reconvenes at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, they will be removed from office.

"Real Texans do not run from a fight. But that's exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did," wrote Abbott. "Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texas, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business."

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Texas House Democrats abandoning their posts on Sunday. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The governor indicated that the exodus amounts to "an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office."

"This truancy ends now," said Abbott.

The governor indicated that he will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382.

The opinion, released by Attorney General Ken Paxton on Aug. 24, 2021, states that "whether a specific legislator abandoned his or her office such that a vacancy occurred will be a fact question for a court" and that "through a quo warranto action, a district court may determine that a legislator has forfeited his or her office due to abandonment and can remove the legislator from office, thereby creating a vacancy."

In addition to potentially risking their offices, Abbott said that Texas House Democrats may have also committed felonies, as many of the absentee lawmakers "are soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules," which might be in violation of the Lone Star State's bribery laws.

The governor was referring to the $500-per-day fine that Republicans implemented in 2023 to deal with legislators who intentionally broke quorum.

"It seems to me that the only way some of the fleeing Democrats can avoid bribery charges is not to break quorum," Abbott tweeted. "It seems that would eliminate any potential quid pro quo connected to any payment they received to deny a quorum and skip a vote."

Paxton minced no words, writing, "Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately."

"We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law," added the Texas attorney general.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Texas Supreme Court ruled in August 2021 that Texas House Democrats who intentionally break quorum can be arrested and dragged into the state legislature.

Meanwhile, radicals farther afield have celebrated the Democrats' anti-democratic gambit.

'The DNC is proud to support these legislators in standing up and showing real leadership.'

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), whose approval rating a recent YouGov poll indicated was 25%, expressed support for the Texas Democrats over the weekend, stating, "It's an all-hands-on-deck moment."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) suggested that the absentee lawmakers' efforts to undermine the democratic process "is what fighting for our democracy looks like."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement that "the DNC is proud to support these legislators in standing up and showing real leadership. We will fight alongside them to stop this anti-democratic assault."

State Rep. James Talarico (D), fresh off suggesting that there was no "historical, theological, biblical basis" for Christians to oppose abortion, said the purpose of the Democratic exodus was to "stop Trump's redistricting power grab."

Talarico's fellow obstructionists suggested their departure was in the interest of democracy. State Rep. Mary Ann Perez, for instance, said that "by breaking quorum, we are standing up for democratic values."

Dozens of absentee lawmakers gathered in Chicago, where they were celebrated by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Others traveled to Massachusetts and New York.

"Texas Democrats are once again neglecting their responsibility to serve the people of the Lone Star State by engaging in absurd theatrics intended to mislead the public into believing they are upholding their values," Mason Di Palma, communications director for the Republican State Leadership Committee, said in a statement to Blaze News. "By traveling to Illinois and New York, two of the most partisanly gerrymandered Democrat-controlled states in the country, these stunts are rooted in nonsense and illustrate how disconnected today's Democratic Party is from the needs of the American people."

"Texas Democrats need to return home immediately, stop wasting taxpayer money on their media tour, and work collaboratively with Republicans in Austin to advance the future of Texas," added Di Palma.

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