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Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened to expel Democrat lawmakers from office if they do not return Austin for a vote on new congressional maps.
Abbott wrote in a statement, “Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business.”
He also added, “This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”
Gov. Greg Abbott informed Texas House Democrats late Sunday that he would attempt to have them removed from office if they do not return to Austin to pass the GOP’s proposed new congressional maps.
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“This truancy ends now,” Abbott said in a letter sent to each of the departed members. “The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025.”
If they are not back by then, Abbott said, he would initiate legal action to remove them from office. He 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. If a court were to decide that the legislators had vacated their offices, Abbott would be permitted to fill those seats with appointees of his choosing, Paxton’s opinion stated.
Abbott further alleged members could face felony charges for fundraising to pay the $500 fine they will each accrue every day they are away from Austin during the session. Lawmakers who are “soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules” may be violating bribery laws, Abbott said, adding that anyone who donates to the cause could also be liable.
The full text read out of his letter:
GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT
August 3, 2025
Real Texans do not run from a fight. But that’s exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did. Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business.
These absences are not merely unintended and unavoidable interruptions in public service, like a sudden illness or a family emergency. Instead, these absences were premeditated for an illegitimate purpose—what one representative called “breaking quorum.” Another previously signaled that Democrats “would have to go by an extreme measure” of a quorum break “to stop these bills from happening.” In other words, Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business.
That amounts to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office. When the Governor calls a Special Session, our Constitution provides that the “Legislature shall meet.” TEX. CONST. art. III, § 5. It’s not optional. It’s a duty. The absconded Democrat House members were elected to meet and vote on legislation—not to prevent votes that may not go their way. Every session, legislators on both sides of the aisle find themselves on the losing side of a legislative vote. And every session, most of those legislators find a way to disagree agreeably and behave like adults, rather than going AWOL.
This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House. In that Opinion, the Attorney General considered “whether Texas law allows for a determination that a legislator has vacated an elected office” if they intentionally break quorum. The Attorney General concluded that “whether a specific legislator abandoned his or her office such that a vacancy occurred will be a fact question for a court.” He further concluded that “through a writ of quo warranto,” in action, a district court may determine whether a legislator has forfeited his or her office due to abandonment and can remove the legislator from office, thereby creating a vacancy.” That empowers me to swiftly fill vacancies under Article III, Section 13 of the Texas Constitution.
In addition to abandoning their offices, these legislators may also have committed felonies. Many Democrat House members have reportedly solicited funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules. Any member who solicits or accepts donations of money or other things of value in relation to the violation of legislative duties or responsibilities for the purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 36.02. That includes not only the legislators, but also any other person who “offers, confers, or agrees to confer such funds to the legislator” for the purpose of committing these felonies. I will use my full extradition authority to demand the return to Texas of any legislator who attempts to hide out-of-state.
Sincerely,
Greg Abbott
Governor of Texas
This comes after dozens of state representatives fled to Chicago to stall the vote.
Dozens of Texas’ Democratic state representatives arrived in Chicago Sunday night to stall the vote. Shortly after Abbott released his statement, the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a simple response, writing: “Come and take it.”
The statement also described Republicans’ proposed districts, which would potentially secure five new GOP U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections, as a “racist mid-decade redistricting scheme.”
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott is not messing around.