The FBI will help Texas law enforcement corral lawmakers who left the state to delay a vote on redistricting, Senator John Cornyn (R) said Thursday.
More than 50 Democrats left the state last weekend, just before Texas’s legislature was set to vote on a controversial redistricting plan that would allow Republicans to redraw House Districts and potentially gain five seats in Congress. The FBI’s involvement is the latest escalation in the interstate battle, after Texas Governor Greg Abbott asked courts to remove “derelict” Democrats from office earlier this week.
Cornyn submitted a request to the FBI on August 5, asking FBI Director Kash Patel to “take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.”
Patel approved the request, Cornyn confirmed on Thursday morning, as the Lone-Star Republican thanked the Trump administration for “swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas.”
Texas legislators have just two weeks left in special session to redraw the map. Several Texas Democrats have said that their walkout will last through August 19, when special session ends.
“We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities,” Cornyn said.
A large swath of Democratic runaways found refuge in Illinois, where they have held press conferences and met with members of Congress. Dozens of lawmakers in a Chicago-area hotel were evacuated from their hotel on Wednesday over a false bomb threat.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has supported the walkout and said he would shield lawmakers from law enforcement.
“Our state troopers protect everybody in Illinois and anybody who’s here in Illinois,” Pritzker said this week. “And so, whether it’s federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven’t broken federal law, you’re basically unwelcome and there’s no way that our state legislators here — the Texas state legislators — can be arrested.”
Texas Democrats face daily fines of $500 each for stalling the vote.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D), whose state was also temporarily home to some defect Democrats, said she expected there will be “exorbitant legal expenses” for lawmakers and told residents “to step up and invest in these brave soldiers for our democracy.”
It is unclear how Democrats are funding their trip, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into a political group founded by former Representative and presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke, that he said is “bankrolling” the Democrats’ walkout. Power by People has helped fund the cost of lawmakers’ out-of-state expenditures, including private airfare, lodging, and meals, according to the Texas Tribune.
Power by People, which according to financial statements had $3.5 million cash as of June, funded Texas Democrats’ similar runaway stunt in 2021, the Tribune reported at the time.
“Texas cannot be bought. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all of the documents and communications obtained throughout this investigation,” Paxton said. “These jet-setting runaways have already lost public trust by abandoning our state, and Texans deserve to know if they received illegal bribes to do it.”