At least 51 House Democrats have fled the state of Texas to prevent quorum and delay a redistricting vote that would give Republicans up to five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Texas

Texas House Democrats have left the state in an effort to block a vote on a Republican-led plan to redraw electoral maps. The proposed changes could give Republicans up to five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, a move Democrats have described as gerrymandering.

The absence of Democratic lawmakers has prevented the Texas House from reaching a quorum, prompting the House Speaker to issue civil arrest warrants to compel their return. While demonstrators have shown support for the Democrats, Republicans argue that the Supreme Court permits partisan redistricting. Democratic governors in other states have indicated they may respond with similar tactics, though recent efforts to curb gerrymandering complicate the situation.

Texas House Democrats leave state to delay redistricting vote

There being 94 members present, a quorum is not present. And with that, the political standoff in Texas slid further into crisis. Democrat members of the state legislature have fled Texas. They're trying to derail a plan to redraw electoral maps in a way that would benefit the Republicans. In turn, the state house speaker has issued arrest warrants. DPS is actively working to compel their attendance. After I signed their civil arrest warrants yesterday. Texas democracy under attack. Outside, demonstrators have lined the streets calling on Democrats to stand firm. But Republicans say they have the law on their side. The Supreme Court of the United States has weighed in and said that it is absolutely permissible to draw maps based on maximizing partisan advantage. And there's no question, this is being done to maximize partisan advantage. Under the proposed changes, Republicans could gain as many as five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. And that small shift could go a long way to helping Republicans retain control of Congress. The Democrats call it gerrymandering. Donald Trump calls it an opportunity. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know. And we are entitled to five more seats. To prevent that, some Democrats fled to other states in order to keep the Republican-controlled House from establishing a quorum. Look, I didn't run for office to walk out of the Capitol. But I also didn't run for office to stand by while democracy is stolen in broad daylight. The problem for Democrats is they can only delay for so long. It seems likely that the new maps are going to be voted on and put in place. And then the question is, what are the courts going to do? The other thing to watch, though, Heather, is how other states will respond. Democratic governors in New York and California and Illinois, they've all vowed to, in their words, fight fire with fire. What does that mean exactly, Peter? What are those states going to do? Look, they've all vowed to redistrict their own electoral maps if they have to. And on the one hand, they've done that before. But it's also complicated now, as Democrats have recently led the charge to prevent gerrymandering and even passed some laws to make this kind of thing more difficult. Peter, thank you very much. This is CBC's Peter Armstrong from Washington tonight.

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