Most of the Democrats in the Texas legislature have fled the state to prevent the Republican majority from imposing President Donald Trump's gerrymandering plan on the congressional map — but one GOP legislator isn't sure his party's gambit will succeed.
The state legislature will reconvene Monday afternoon despite likely being 57 Democrats short of a quorum, with most of the party's legislators having fled to take refuge in Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, thereby making a vote on the controversial move that would give Republicans an advantage in elections impossible.
But Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to "remove the missing Democrats" from the House, reported Politico Playbook.
“This is a day-by-day battle,” said Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D) at an event with Illinois Gov. JD Pritzker, "and so we win today, and then tomorrow’s a new day, and we fight to win tomorrow, too. It’s situational, but my intent is to not go back for the rest of this special session.”
A number of Texas Democrats and their allies told Playbook they're concerned Trump could call out the Illinois National Guard to force their return so that the president can carry out his redistricting plan — though he doesn't have jurisdiction outside of Texas.
“I wouldn’t put anything past them at this point,” said Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D). “If the president is able to rig the midterms in Texas, he’ll be able to rig the midterms in every red state and that means they’ll be able to hold on to power without any accountability from voters."
However, Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison, a regular on Steve Bannon's "War Room" show, said the Democrats had already effectively put his party into checkmate.
“If the elected Republican leadership of Texas wanted to have had redistricting already done by now, it would have been done by now,” Harrison told Playbook. “This is not a success of the Democrats as much as it is a failure of elected Republicans.”