Texas AG Asks Judge To Officially Remove AWOL Dems From Seats

Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) says that he will “seek judicial orders” stating that the state legislators who fled to Illinois — to stall a Republican-led effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts — had “vacated” their offices.

Paxton shared a copy of a Tuesday press release from his office on X, adding, “The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don’t show up to work, you get fired.”

Paxton’s release argued that by breaking quorum and thus refusing to perform the duties they were elected to perform, the Democrats who left the state had effectively abandoned their offices — and his intent was to seek judicial relief on the matter should they not return.

“Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that the continued refusal to perform legislative duties by Texas House Democrats who broke quorum constitutes abandonment of office and that he will pursue a court ruling ensuring that their seats are declared vacant,” the release read.

Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows, according to the release, gave the rogue legislators until the end of the week — Friday, August 8 — to return and do their jobs. “Any lawmaker who has not been arrested and returned or fails to appear by the Speaker’s deadline will be subject to aggressive legal action by Attorney General Paxton.”

“Democrats have abandoned their offices by fleeing Texas, and a failure to respond to a call of the House constitutes a dereliction of their duty as elected officials,” Paxton explained. “Starting Friday, any rogue lawmakers refusing to return to the House will be held accountable for vacating their office. The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don’t show up to work, you get fired.”

The rogue Texas Democrats broke quorum to stall the redistricting process because they did not have the votes to block it through legitimate means. They attempted a similar stunt in 2021 in protest against a Republican-backed election bill.