Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to replace Democratic lawmakers who fled the state over the weekend unless they return by Monday afternoon to vote on a Republican plan to redraw its congressional districts.
The more than 50 Democratic members of the Texas legislature left the state on Sunday to deny Republicans the quorum necessary to vote on the redistricting plan, which President Donald Trump has championed, and which he and his Republicans hope will protect the party's narrow US House majority in next year's midterm elections.
The contentious but legally permitted move, known as partisan gerrymandering, seeks to help Republicans retain control of the US House of Representatives in next year's midterms, when the opposition party usually does more favourably.
Republicans hold a 219-212 majority in the US House of Representatives, with three Democratic-held seats vacant after deaths, and one Republican hold vacant after a member resigned.
A stronger Republican majority in the House would enable the president to further advance his agenda.
Abbott in a statement late on Sunday cited a Texas attorney general opinion that district courts may determine whether legislators have forfeited their offices "due to abandonment," saying that empowered him to "swiftly fill vacancies."
The governor said in the statement he would use that power against any Democrats who were absent when the Texas legislature reconvenes at 3 pm Central Time (2000 GMT) on Monday.
In addition to acting on the redistricting plan, Abbott called the special legislative session to address funding for flood prevention and relief in the wake of the deadly July 4 flash flooding that killed more than 130 people.
Upon arriving in Chicago on Sunday evening with several other Democratic lawmakers, Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, slammed his Republican counterparts for pushing the redistricting plan alongside a flood-related bill.
"Governor Abbott has used this tragedy, taken these families who are grieving... and used them as hostages in a political game," he said at a press conference, flanked by Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Other Democratic lawmakers went to New York and Massachusetts.
Wu called the redistricting plan "racist," saying it sought to dilute the voting power of racial minorities in the state.
"Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump, so that Donald Trump could steal these communities' power and voice," he added.
Previously tried strategy
Abbott in a Monday morning appearance on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" said Wu's accusation was "bogus". He said the redistricting would expand the number of Hispanic-majority districts and that it was necessary to give Trump voters in Democrat-majority districts the ability to elect Republican US representatives.
A White House official told Reuters news agency that Trump supports Abbott's threat to remove absent Democratic lawmakers and wants "whatever is necessary" done to get the new map passed. Trump has told reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans.
States are required to redistrict every 10 years based on the US Census, but the current Texas map was passed just four years ago by the Republican-dominated legislature. While mid-cycle redistricting occasionally takes place, it is usually prompted by a change in power at the legislature.
Leaders of Democrat-led states such as California and Illinois have recently raised the idea of redistricting their own US congressional maps to boost the number of Democratic seats in response to Abbott's push in Texas.
Under Texas' current lines, Republicans control 25 out of 38 seats, nearly two-thirds of the districts in a state that went for Trump last year by a 56 percent to 42 percent margin.
Texas Democratic lawmakers have before tried the strategy of leaving the state to block a redistricting plan.
Some fled in 2021 in a similar bid to deny Abbott the quorum needed to pass a voting restriction measure. That bill passed after three of the lawmakers returned, saying they had achieved their goal of bringing national attention to the issue.
