About two-dozen Texas Democrats huddled around a monitor inside a hotel auditorium just west of Chicago Monday to watch as their Republican colleagues gaveled back into session and threatened “consequences” for their mass departure.
Minutes later, as they stared at their phones, Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the ordering of their arrest. The atmosphere, according to a person in the room, remained tense while the bell rang to call the session to order but turned more defiant and boisterous during the speakers’ remarks and press conference.
More than a thousand miles away in Austin, Texas, the Democrats who didn’t flee the state hunkered down for the final 15 days of a special legislative session set to end Aug. 19. They gathered to address, in part, a mid-decade redistricting proposal pushed by President Donald Trump.
The splitscreen capped a 24-hour frenzy that began when dozens of Texas Democrats fled the state to protest the remapped congressional lines designed to keep Republicans in power during next year’s crucial midterms. And it underscored the high stakes of the standoff: A president clamoring to cling to partisan control at every level — helped by a high-profile red state governor — facing a coup from the opposing party.
And despite an uncertain endgame and the possibility of Abbott simply calling for another special session, Democrats here are planning extended stays and making arrangements for children and relatives to visit them, according to one person close to the lawmakers who was granted anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive matter.
Democrats, who broke quorum by leaving the Lone Star State, now face an uncertain path. Past quorum breaks, like their 2021 effort to block passage of an elections bill, have been minimally successful.
Without the necessary number of legislators needed to conduct business, the Republican-controlled state House can’t vote on the plan that could cement its party’s power in Congress next year.