Texas Democrats End 2-Week Walkout, Setting Up Vote On Congressional Map Favoring Republicans

Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Texas Democrats ended a dramatic two-week walkout over congressional redistricting, clearing the way for Republicans to pass a map redrawn in their favor as soon as Aug. 20.

The state Democrats announced that they would return after California Democrats moved forward with plans to redraw their congressional map to counter any GOP gains in Texas.

On Aug. 15, Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special session as the first one ended.

“Delinquent House Democrats ran away from their responsibility to pass crucial legislation to benefit the lives of Texans,” Abbott said in a statement.

“We will not back down from this fight. That’s why I am calling them back today to finish the job.”

When the Texas House convened on Aug. 18, Speaker Dustin Burrows announced a quorum and subsequently ordered the House chamber doors locked, an action permitted under House rules.

Burrows scheduled the House to reconvene on Aug. 20, when a vote on a redrawn congressional map could take place, potentially adding five Republican seats in the next election.

Democrats, who showed up on Aug. 18 but face arrest warrants that were issued for fleeing the state, were released from the chamber in the custody of Department of Public Safety officers responsible for their return.

“We have a quorum. Now is the time for action. We will move quickly,” Burrows said.

More than 50 Democrats left the Lone Star State for several blue states as a way of thwarting GOP-led congressional redistricting. The 150-member Texas House requires 100 legislators to be present to meet a quorum requirement and conduct business.

Republican leadership applied extraordinary pressure to force the Democrats to return.

Besides issuing civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats, Burrows threatened each of them with a $500 daily fine under House rules.

Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits to remove fleeing Democrats from office and target organizations funding their quorum break.

Abbott, too, filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court asking it to rule that Rep. Gene Wu, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, had vacated his seat by refusing to come to work.

President Donald Trump has expressed support for congressional redistricting in red states to give Republicans a better chance at maintaining control of the U.S. House.

On July 7, the U.S. Justice Department sent Abbott a letter raising concerns that four congressional districts in the Houston and Dallas areas were unconstitutional because of “racial gerrymandering.”

Current boundaries run afoul of the Voting Rights Act by relying on racial demographics to group minority voters into “coalition districts,” where no single racial group forms a majority, according to the Justice Department.