By Philip Jankowski
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
WARRENVILLE, Ill. — Texas Democrats said Monday they are now pushing the redistricting fight to other states in what they described as an escalating fight over state Republicans’ continued efforts to flip as many as five congressional seats to GOP control.
For now, House Democrats have halted the redrawing of Texas’ congressional seats after 57 refused to show up in the Capitol Monday for a vote on the proposal. Dozens of state lawmakers are in Illinois, holed up in a conference center outside of Chicago.
House Democrats were joined by Democratic U.S. Congress members, including North Texas Reps. Jasmine Crockett, Julie Johnson and Marc Veasey.
“They’re over here trying to bully people,” Crockett said of the threats made to House Democrats, including a statement from Gov. Greg Abbott in which he said he would seek a court order to remove Democrats from office for leaving the state.
“Bullies are always weak,” Crockett added while speaking at an evening news conference at a union hall in Warrenville, Ill. “The difference is they expect Democrats to kind of be the nice guys that we are. They expect us to take the punch and say, ‘Thank you.’ Well, I am here to tell you, not only are we going to punch back, but we about to beat you down.”
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, accused the absent Democrats of “dereliction of duty” at the Capitol Monday. Other GOP lawmakers said Democrats were taking orders from Washington and said that their effort would only delay the inevitable and derail flood relief bills in the meantime.
Democrats who spoke with The Dallas Morning News on Monday described an escalating fight that could trigger a domino effect of redistricting across left-leaning states. The end goal, they said, is to show President Donald Trump that if he does not bring the redistricting effort to an end, Democratically run states would work to counter any Republican gains in Texas.
“It’s mutually assured destruction,” Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, said in an interview. “This is not good for American democracy.”
It runs counter to some Democrats’ general party line, which tends to oppose political gerrymanders and has, in some states such as California, created independent redistricting commissions. However, their rhetoric has shifted as the redistricting process has unfolded in Texas toward an embrace of a hypothetical redistricting arms race.
U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, is facing one of the most striking changes in the proposed new district map. Green was drawn out of his current district, which would shift from one of the safest Democratic seats in Texas to one that would have voted for Trump by 15 percentage points under the GOP proposal.
Green’s comments at the news conference reflected the high stakes of the mid-decade redistricting effort, which was requested by Trump to help preserve the GOP’s majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm election. If Democrats take control of the chamber, it would not only provide a significant obstacle to Trump enacting his agenda in the remainder of his term, but would also allow Democrats to initiate and pursue investigations of his administration.
“We will bring him down,” Green said. “He will be impeached again.”
State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, said in an interview that Abbott’s threats are “laughable.”
“I view it as more MAGA bluster,” Turner said. “You know, an aim to appease Donald Trump. The governor doesn’t have that authority, and the governor knows that.”
While Abbott’s reach outside of the state is limited, Burrows, R-Lubbock, said during a news conference Monday that he would not rule out accepting assistance from the Trump administration to bring the decamped Democrats back to Texas. The House voted on party lines to issue civil arrest warrants, allowing law enforcement to detain and force Democrats to return to the Capitol.
“Nothing is off the table,” Burrows said.
State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, said that the threats have steeled Democrats’ resolve.
“You can threaten me all you want, but it just reminds me how important it is to stand up,” Johnson said.
But she said Burrows’ comments about federal law enforcement should cause a wider alarm.
“That should scare you,” she said. “These are not normal times. So don’t act like it.”
Philip Jankowski has covered government, politics and criminal justice in Texas for 17 years. He previously worked for the Austin American-Statesman, the Killeen Daily Herald and the Taylor Press. Philip is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
