A crowd gathered outside Gov. Greg Abbott's mansion to protest his redistricting plan on Aug. 4. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
North Texas House Democrats left the state on Sunday to block a vote over the GOP’s new gerrymandered maps for US House districts in the state.
State Rep. Linda Garcia (D-Mesquite) is not just a member of the Texas House. She’s also an entrepreneur and mother who calls Dallas home.
That’s why her decision to leave the state with nearly 60 other Democrats to stop redistricting plans from Republicans Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump did not come lightly.
“ It was an easy decision in the sense that we knew we had to fight for democracy and what our constituents put us in place to do,” Garcia said. “But it is an enormous sacrifice for me as a working mother and a mother to a young child, and the decision, I did not take it lightly, but I am doing it with pride because not many of us mothers are represented in politics.”
Garcia and her Democratic colleagues went to Chicago, New York, and Boston on Sunday to “break quorum” and stop Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting plan that would flip five US House seats currently held by Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Republican lawmakers are rushing to approve the new maps during Abbott’s 30-day special legislative session that opened on July 21.
In North Texas, the new Republican maps target the districts of Democratic US Reps. Julie Johnson, Marc Veasey, and Jasmine Crockett.
Johnson’s current District 32—which includes parts of Dallas, Collin, and Denton counties—is a Democratic stronghold. But under the new map, her district would stretch into several rural areas dominated by Republicans, including Rockwall, Hunt, Rains, Wood, Upshure, and Camp counties.
In Fort Worth, Veasey’s District 33 would see its percentage of registered Democrats drop from 74% to 65% under the new map, which also cuts Tarrant County, Veasey’s hometown, out of the district entirely.
These changes could force Johnson to run against Veasey in a newly drawn district.
In South Dallas, the proposed map packs more minority voters into already existing Democratic strongholds. Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s District 30 is 4% less white under the proposed map, and she would no longer reside in her own district.
“ This special session has been hijacked by the President of the United States, and this redistricting was something that was really forced down our throats,” said state Rep. Venton Jones (D-Dallas). “We had a regular session in which the redistricting committee didn’t even meet once, and when we were told that we would have a special session initially, it wasn’t even mentioned that redistricting would be a part of the special session.”
Jones, who is serving his second term in the Texas House, said that leaving the state was a “huge sacrifice.”
“I’m someone who runs a business, usually after the session you would get time to focus on that, but once again—just like my first session where we had four special sessions—I’m back doing this work,” he said.
“My fiance takes care of aging parents,” he added, “so it’s been pretty tough. But I think that when it comes to the work that I signed up for, this is something that I take very seriously.”
In a press conference on Monday, Crockett applauded the lawmakers who left the state, calling them “heroes.”
“ I don’t think that the American people truly understand the amount of sacrifice that these warriors and heroes are making right now,” Crockett said. “Most people don’t understand that in the Texas House you only get paid a $7,000 salary. But these people are saying, ‘We are going to do our job because we understand our oath.’ They’re the ones that are doing things that a lot of other people do not have the audacity to do.”
State Rep. Venton Jones joined nearly 60 Democrat colleagues and left the state on Aug. 3. (Photo by Matt Hennie)
Abbott calls for arrests, expulsion
The House members are facing a slew of threats, most of which legal experts deem symbolic.
Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and US Sen. John Cornyn —all Republicans—threatened lawmakers with arrest or removal from the House if they don’t return to the Capitol.
Also on Monday, Republicans in the Texas House voted to issue arrest warrants for Democrats who left the state. The warrants are civil, not criminal, only apply within the state, and can only allow law enforcement officers to bring the lawmakers to the Capitol.
Abbott has also threatened to charge the absent Democrats with bribery for raising funds to cover the $500 daily fines they face from the Texas House for being absent. Additionally, Paxton is attempting to convince a judge to declare the Democrat’s legislative seats vacant so they can be booted from office if they do not return by Friday.
But Garcia said they are not backing down.
“I did not take this position to appease the governor or the President of the United States,” Garcia said. “I took on this position in order to represent my constituents. If I am taking this drastic measure right now, it is because my constituents want me to take this drastic measure. If at the end of the day this lands in a result that gets me exed out of being a Texas state representative, then I will exit with pride because I am doing it in the name of my constituents. I am not a career politician. I am not here to appease anyone. I am here to do what the public hired me to do.”
Cornyn has also urged FBI Director Kash Patel to take “any appropriate steps” to help state law enforcement find or arrest the lawmakers who left Texas.
Jones echoed Garcia’s sentiment, claiming that Republicans are fear-mongering and lying about the limits of their power.
“This kind of mob mentality is something that you see from the Republican Party from the top down,” Jones said. “We see it in the Governor’s Mansion and in the White House. It’s just really rooted in fear-mongering and downright lies that are being told about the limits of their power, and about the issues facing certain communities in order to push a political agenda. This is all from their playbook of how they do business, and Texans are just fed up with it.”
Flood relief takes a back seat
In New York, Rep. Mihaela Plesa (D-Dallas) joined Gov. Kathy Holchul (D) on Monday for a press conference, comparing their response to recent flooding with Texas’ response to the July 4 Hill Country floods that killed over 135 people.
“New York just experienced flooding, they put people over policies, and they declared a state of emergency,” Plesa said. “In Texas, today marks the one month anniversary where over 130 people died, the majority of them being children. But today on the House floor, House Republicans did not want to put flood relief, disaster relief, they didn’t want to do anything for the people of Texas.”
“They’re bending the knee to President Donald Trump, the first bill put on the calendar today was a redistricting bill, an attempt to steal power,” she added. “While Texans are waiting for relief, Republican leaders are redrawing maps to silence voters.”
Abbott’s special session ends on Aug. 19. Garcia said House Democrats are committed to remaining out of state until the end of session.
“(We will) wait and see what Abbott’s next move is and continue moving forward on a day-to-day basis,” Garcia said.
