7:22The State Capitol is viewed on August 06, 2025, in Austin, Texas.Brandon Bell/Getty Images
On Friday, Texas Democrats once again resisted Republican Governor Greg Abbott and the state GOP by not attending a vote on a redistricting plan proposed by Republicans.
Soon thereafter, the state’s Republican attorney general sought legal action to attempt to remove some of these Democrats from their positions.
The new congressional maps suggested by the GOP would likely increase the number of seats held by Republicans in Congress, potentially enabling the GOP to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington.
Despite threats of arrest, salary restrictions, and demands from the governor for their removal from office, most of the Democrats did not attend the special session when the Texas House met Friday afternoon, resulting in no quorum being established.
U.S. Congressional District maps are presented as the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting convenes to hear invited testimony on Congressional plan C2308 at the Texas State Capitol on August 6, 2025, in Austin, Texas.Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Earlier, Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, the minority leader of the Texas House, mentioned to ABC News on Thursday that he anticipated his caucus would again withhold attendance on Friday, preventing the legislature from achieving a quorum. However, he noted their willingness to return to Austin if state Republicans agreed to address only other matters during the special session, such as flood mitigation and disaster preparedness.
Those present on Friday do not need to return until Monday at 2 p.m. ET, when Texas House Republicans will attempt to reach a quorum for the fourth time.
Democrats who have left the state are expected to remain absent until August 19, the conclusion of the special session.
This act of defiance coincides with Abbott’s request to the Texas Supreme Court to remove Wu from his position.
Wu’s legal team responded on Friday afternoon, urging the court to deny the governor’s petition.
The attorneys contend, in part, that the court lacks jurisdiction over state legislators, asserting that Rep. Wu is entitled to a jury trial, which the state supreme court cannot provide. They further argue that the governor does not possess standing to initiate the case, asserting that Abbott’s lawsuit would “fail in any court.”
His legal team also argues that the state constitution protects lawmakers in instances of quorum-breaking under certain conditions.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton informed Fox News on Friday that he is prepared to take additional Democrats to court if they do not return.
"If they show up today, we're all happy, we can get our business done, and everybody is good. If they do not show up, we will be in an Illinois courtroom … [trying] to get them back to the state of Texas, hold them in contempt, and if they refuse to come, hopefully put them in jail," he stated.
He dismissed concerns that the optics of arresting Democrats would result in a favorable public opinion shift.
"I think in Texas — I don't know what it's like in other states, but I do know in Texas, people expect their representatives to go to work," Paxton remarked.
On Friday afternoon, Paxton announced that he had submitted a lawsuit to the Texas Supreme Court seeking the removal of 13 of the over 50 Texas House Democratic members who departed the state to create a quorum break.
The filing argued that these members "have absented themselves from the State with the express purpose of denying the House a quorum so that the Legislature as a whole cannot carry out its constitutional lawmaking function."
"These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold. Their out-of
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