Texas AG Paxton threatens to arrest Democrats skipping redistricting vote

As U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and others slammed Republican Governor Greg Abbott for announcing a special session that will include redistricting voting maps before the 2026 midterm elections, Texas AG Ken Paxton advocated for ‘hunting down and arresting democrats.’

Governor Greg Abbott announced a special session related to emergency disaster aid after the devastating and deadly flooding last week in Kerr County, Texas. Then, it came to light that the session would include potentially redistricting maps - or redrawing electoral boundaries in a way that may favor republican candidates.

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and others condemned Abbott's maneuver as a "gerrymandering" strategy that would enable "politicians to choose their voters and undermine free and fair elections."

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is seeking Senator John Cornyn's position in next year's Republican primary, fired back at reports of a Democratic effort to block quorum with a stern warning.

Paxton declared: "If Democrats ignore their duty to their constituents by breaking quorum, they should be found and arrested no matter where they go. The people of Texas elected them to do a job, not run away and hide like cowards. Lawmakers must answer the special session call and pass the important priorities that the Governor has put forward."

Paxton added: "My office stands ready to assist local, state, and federal authorities in hunting down and compelling the attendance of anyone who abandons their office and their constituents for cheap political theater."

Multiple media outlets have reported that Jeffries and DNC Chair Ken Martin are pushing Texas House Democrats to "deny quorum" as a strategy to combat Governor Greg Abbott's redistricting plans. If Democrats deny quorum by not attending the special session scheduled for Monday, July 21, at 12:00 p.m., the session's proceedings would be rendered invalid.

California Governor Gavin Newsom concurred, labeling the special session a tactic for the Texas GOP to "cheat their way into more Congressional seats."

Newsom even raised the stakes, indicating his party is prepared to counter any aggressive gerrymandering efforts that could benefit the GOP in Texas. "Two can play that game," Newsom stated on Pod Save America, hinting at a potential special election to alter California's redistricting laws.

This follows President Donald Trump's announcement to congressional Republicans on Tuesday, expressing his desire to secure an additional five Republican seats in the U.S. House through an unusual redistricting process that Democratic lawmakers have denounced as a threat to democracy and an "unacceptable betrayal of Texans."

Punchbowl News broke the story that the president has a preliminary plan to "squeeze out five more red seats" in Rep. Henry Cuellar's district along the U.S.-Mexico border, which stretches up to San Antonio. The plan also targets Rep. Julie Johnson's northeast Dallas district and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez Jr.'s Gulf Coast district.

The report suggests the remaining two districts in the crosshairs likely encompass sections of Houston and Austin.

In Texas, emergency teams continue their grim search for the scores of individuals still missing after the Hill Country floods on July 4, which claimed the lives of 134 people, including 70 adults and 37 children in Kerr County alone. The catastrophe, exacerbated by climate change, has placed intense pressure on officials at every level of government for their failure to implement adequate flood defenses, early warning systems, and an overall effective response.

"Greg Abbott is choosing in this special session to put lines on a map over the lives that were on the line in Kerr County," blasted the Texas House Democrats. "This is how you steal an election."