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Texas House Democrats set out on Sunday trying to stop votes in their districts on Monday, claiming that the law “deliberately uses racist maps” to undermine the voices of black and Latino voters in Texas.
The absence of Democrats means Republicans are unable to advance their scheduled votes under House rules and block the potential passage of the rezoning act, which will establish a new congressional map that could lead to five new GOP US house seats in the 2026 medium-term elections.
“This is not a decision we disregard, but it is something we make with absolute moral clarity,” House Democrat Caucus Chairman Rep. Jean Wu said in a statement Sunday.
Texas Democrats flee the nation to stop Trump-backed votes in districts with dramatic legislative moves
On August 3, 2025, Illinois Governor JB Pretzker, a Democrat from Texas, was the representative of Texas Democrat Jean Wu, a Democrat.
Most of the House Democrats fled to Chicago, while others headed to New York and Boston.
The Texas House stipulates that at least 100 members of its 150 members must exist to run the business, with about 50 Democrats absent. This means that votes will stagnate until they return. It is unclear how the Democrats plan to move forward, and Wu told reporters that the exact plan is still in the air.
Constituency laws will move Democrat voters more robustly to Republican districts, as well as other Republican voters in Democrat-leaning districts, and ultimately pave the way for more GOP seats.
This is not the first time the Democrats have fled the nation in protest of legislation.
In July 2021, more than 50 Democrats also left Texas, heading to Washington, D.C., to tie Texas laws together, and President Donald Trump implements new voting restrictions in the aftermath of the 2020 election loss.
Specifically, measures against Democrats included restrictions on new voter IDs for those who voted by mail, as well as drive-by and extended voting times. Similarly, the measure includes new restrictions on people working in polls, prohibiting local election officials from distributing email-in votes to those who have not officially requested them.
Democrats eventually returned to Texas a few weeks later, with multiple members catching Covid-19 in DC and Texas Republican Greg Abbott signing the law in September 2021 after House Republicans finally passed the measure in August 2021.
Trump, Republicans race to redraw the map of Texas Congress as Democrats threaten legal war
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to arrest Democrats who left the state on Sunday if they return by 3pm Monday when their Texas home was reconvened. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Abbott threatened to arrest Democrats who left the state on Sunday if they weren’t back by 3pm Monday when their Texas homes reunited. Still, there are no indications as to when Democrats plan to return to Texas.
“Instead of doing their job and voting for urgent laws that affect the lives of all Texans, they fled to flee Texas to meet the business and take action,” Abbott said in a statement late Sunday.
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Texas Democrats have garnered support from Illinois Gov. JB Pretzker. JB Pretzker labelled the Democratic decision to flee Texas as a “courageous act of righteousness” and accused Republicans of trying to silence “millions of voices, especially black and Latino voters.”
“Texas Democrats had no choice but to leave their homeland, block votes and protect their members,” Pretzker said at a news conference on Sunday.
The Texas Democrats have garnered support from Illinois Gov. JB Pretzker. (Mark Black/AP)
Elizabeth Prickett of Fox News contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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