Texas AG: Prosecuting Democrats Who Left State Will Be a ‘Challenge’

‘We’d have to go sue in every legislator’s home district,' Paxton said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Dallas on June 22, 2017. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that prosecuting Democratic state House members who left the state to block a Republican-backed redistricting plan will not be easy.

Democrats on Aug. 4 prevented the state House of Representatives from moving forward with a redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up Republicans’ 2026 midterm prospects.

“We‘d have to go through a court process, and we’d have to file that maybe in districts that are not friendly to Republicans,” the Republican attorney general said in an interview on Aug. 4 with podcaster Benny Johnson.

Paxton said that it would be “a challenge because every district would be different.”

“We'd have to go sue in every legislator’s home district,” he said.

After dozens of Democrats left Texas, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish a quorum of lawmakers. Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to remove absent members from their seats. Democrats said that Abbott, a Republican, is using “smoke and mirrors” to assert legal authority he doesn’t have.

The House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats, and Abbott ordered state troopers to find and arrest them. Lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities, however.

“If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences,” Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later telling reporters that this could include fines.

Legislative walkouts often merely delay the passage of a bill, including in 2021, when many Democrats left Texas for 38 days to protest proposed voting measures. Once they returned, Republicans passed that measure.

Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member House without two-thirds of the members present. Democrats hold 62 seats in the majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state, according to a Democratic aide.

In a separate interview with Fox News on Aug. 4, Paxton said that Democrats would face some sort of penalty and noted that Burrows “sets the consequences, so he can find them.”

“He can have other consequences inside of the House as far as committee assignments and what they end up getting to do inside the House,” the Texas attorney general said.

“If we can’t arrest them, we want to have the opportunity to potentially take them out of office, at least force them back in for a court hearing,” Paxton continued.

Democrats who left the state did not say how long they'd hold out. Some went to Illinois, while others went to Massachusetts and New York.

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a news conference on Aug. 3 that he and other Democrats have received an “outpouring of support from people, from Americans around the country” to pay fines that were issued.

“My phone has not stopped ringing of people texting us, like, keep going, tell us what you need, give me the donation link,” Wu said during a press conference in Illinois, alongside Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.