Tag: texas

Gavin Newsom’s Gerrymandering Post Backfires in Spectacular Fashion

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has moved forward with legal efforts to hold Democratic lawmakers accountable after they fled the state in protest of Republican-led redistricting efforts.

The Texas Supreme Court has now ordered Democratic State Representative Gene Wu, a central figure in the walkout, to formally respond to the governor’s legal action.

The controversy stems from a renewed push by the Texas legislature to pass new redistricting maps.

In response, several Democratic legislators left the state to prevent the Republican-controlled House from reaching the quorum necessary to conduct legislative business.

The move effectively stalled legislative action in Austin and has now resulted in potential legal consequences.

Governor Abbott’s legal filing seeks to challenge the Democrats’ decision to abandon their legislative duties.

The Texas Supreme Court’s directive to Rep. Wu marks the latest development in an ongoing standoff over the redistricting process. The Court has not yet announced a timeline for a final ruling on the matter.

While the legislative impasse continues, other state issues remain unresolved, including responses to recent flooding and other critical matters requiring legislative attention.

The walkout has drawn criticism from those who argue the legislators’ absence is hindering necessary governance.

The debate over redistricting has also spilled into the national political scene.

California Governor Gavin Newsom weighed in on the matter with a post on X, where he listed red states with zero or just one Democratic House representative.

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Abbott Files Lawsuit to Remove Democrat Caucus Chair Gene Wu from Office

Gov. Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court seeking to remove State Rep. Gene Wu—the Texas House Democrat Caucus Chair—from office, accusing him of leading the ongoing quorum break and abandoning his constitutional duties.

The emergency petition, filed Tuesday, marks the most aggressive legal action yet in response to House Democrats fleeing the state to block a Republican redistricting plan. Abbott called Wu the “ringleader of the derelict Democrats” and cited both abandonment of office and possible bribery as grounds for removal.

“I made clear in a formal statement on Sunday, August 3, that if the Texas House Democrats were not in attendance when the House reconvened at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, then action would be taken to seek their removal,” said Abbott in a press release. “They have not returned and have not met the quorum requirements.”

According to the lawsuit, Wu and his fellow Democrats have engaged in a “willful refusal to return,” depriving the House of the quorum needed to conduct legislative business. The suit further alleges that Wu and others may have solicited and received benefits in exchange for their absence—potentially violating state bribery laws.

The move follows a string of escalating actions by state leadership. Abbott has already ordered the Department of Public Safety to arrest absent Democrats who remain in Texas, and Attorney General Ken Paxton announced earlier today he will pursue judicial orders declaring lawmakers’ seats vacant if they do not return by Friday.

If the Texas Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it could set a precedent for whether lawmakers can be forcibly removed from office for breaking quorum.

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REPORT: Plane That Carried Texas Democrats to Illinois Was Funded by Beto O’Rourke’s PAC

When Texas Democrats fled to Illinois a few days ago in an effort to stop the state legislature from moving forward with redistricting efforts, they traveled there by private plane. How did they afford such a thing? Beto O’Rourke’s PAC apparently paid for it.

This makes sense when you consider that O’Rourke has run for almost every possible office in Texas except dog catcher and has lost every time. Beto probably jumped at the chance to help these Democrats.

This news is certainly not going to help their cause with Texas voters.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Now We Know: Beto O’Rourke’s PAC Funded Texas Dems’ Private Jet to Illinois

State lawmakers in Texas make just $7,200 a year. A group of Democratic legislators spent roughly four times that amount to take a private jet to Illinois in an attempt to block their Republican counterparts from passing a new congressional map. But they didn’t have to worry about the price tag—because Beto O’Rourke’s PAC picked it up.

That’s according to a report in the Texas Tribune, which cited two people involved in the effort to raise funds for Texas Democrats’ walkout. O’Rourke’s PAC, Powered by People, is “armed with a $3.5 million war chest” and has covered most of the costs associated with the walkout so far, including “air transport, lodging, and logistical support,” the outlet reported. Every dollar the group receives going forward will go toward supporting the walkout.

O’Rourke’s emergence as the walkout’s financier could land him in legal trouble. Lawmakers who flee Texas to prevent the state legislature from having enough members to pass laws are subject to $500-a-day fines under Texas house rules, which also prevent walkout participants from soliciting political contributions to pay those fines. Republican governor Greg Abbott has said that “any other person who ‘offers, confers, or agrees to confer’” such contributions to the “fleeing Democrat House members” may be in violation of state bribery laws.

Is anyone surprised by this?

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Jasmine Crockett Joins Dems Who Fled Texas, Says Republicans Are ‘Weak’ and ‘We About to Beat You Down’

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) joined Democrats who fled her state to avoid voting on redistricting, and laughably claimed it’s Republicans who are “weak.”

Crockett also amped up the incendiary rhetoric by threatening violence in the wake of the controversy that caused her Democrat colleagues to tuck their tails and run away from the Lone Star State.

“This governor talks a lot of noise, and I made sure that I put up my warrant from four years ago,” Crockett began. “To make it plain that they talk a lot of noise, but these guys are weak.”

The wannabe leader of the Democrat party is referencing the fact that she was a major player in the same stunt Texas Democrats pulled in the state in July 2021 to prevent a vote on Republican election integrity bills. It’s a good reminder that Governor Greg Abbott had better put some teeth behind his arrest threats this time around.

“The difference is they expect Democrats to kind of be the nice guys that we are,” Crockett continued her rant. “They expect us to take the punch and say thank you. Well, I am here to tell you not only are we going to punch back, but we about to beat you down.”

Narrator: Nobody expects you to be the “nice guys,” especially when a recent study has shown the left is embracing an “assassination culture.”

Paging House Republicans – When are we going to have enough of Crockett and her street threats before we censure her for them? Are we waiting for the actual violence again, like in 2020?

This is the same woman who claims violence doesn’t come from the left side of the political aisle.

“The violence doesn’t come from Democrats, just to be clear,” she told comedian Hasan Minhaj. “I mean, obviously, anyone can be a criminal, but, um, it is MAGA. It’s specifically MAGA faction.”

Violence doesn’t come from Democrats, oh, and also … “We about to beat you down.”

Aside from Crockett’s violent language, several other prominent Democratic figures engaged in similar rhetoric. Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) called the matter of fleeing to avoid a vote “an all-out war” while California Governor Gavin Newsom said the resistance party was prepared to “fight fire with fire.”

Considering their party’s rhetoric has led to multiple assassination attempts on the President, it should be taken seriously. That said, listening to them shout in defense of their colleagues who are currently hiding and dispersed throughout the country so they can avoid doing their jobs is utterly hilarious.

This is like running three blocks away from a street fight and then yelling back to your opponent, “I’m gonna kick your a**,” all while shaking a fist in the air.

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‘Din’t get cracked’: Watch female police officer threaten to ticket ‘everyone’ because she didn’t have sex last night

A female police officer in the Houston area is now under investigation after posting a video on TikTok in which she threatened to give everyone a ticket because she did not have sex the previous night.

Harris County Constable Precinct 5 Deputy Jennifer Escalera was in uniform as she recorded herself writing on a notepad.

“Din’t get cracked last night so everyone is getting a ticket…” Escalera indicated in her now-deleted video.

Although she blurred portions of her uniform, the officer left her name tag visible.

“Our administration is aware and internal affairs has opened an investigation. We have no other comment at this time,” the constable’s office said.

The New York Post reported: “The female cop’s TikTok account features several posts showing her in uniform. She also posts about being a mom.

“One of the posts shows Escalera getting ready ‘to work as a female Police Officer’ as the text across the screen reads, ‘contemplating if I really need this job, knowing that I do.'”

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Federal Appeals Court Rules Texas Can Enforce Law Requiring ID For Mail-In Ballots

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled Texas can enforce a law requiring ID numbers for mail-in ballots.

A three-judge panel unanimously overturned a lower court’s block on the state’s mail-in ballot requirements.

The three judges included: Judge James Ho (Trump), Judge Don Willett (Trump), and Judge Patrick Higginbotham (Reagan).

“We have no difficulty concluding that this ID number requirement fully complies with a provision of federal law known by the parties as the materiality provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” the judges ruled.

“The ID number requirement is obviously designed to confirm that each mail-in ballot voter is precisely who he claims he is. And that is plainly “material” to “determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote,”” the judges worote.

“The district court reached the opposite conclusion. So we reverse and render judgment for Defendants,” they said.

Politico reported:

A federal appeals court has ruled that Texas may enforce a state law that invalidates mail-in ballots submitted without a voter’s state identification number or partial Social Security number.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the requirement the Texas Legislature enacted in 2021 as part of an election-integrity bill known as SB1 did not violate a federal law preventing states from imposing voting requirements “not material” to the validity of ballots.

In a brusque, nine-page opinion, Judge James Ho twice said the appeals panel had “little difficulty” concluding that Texas’ law was valid.

“The number-matching requirements are obviously designed to confirm that every mail-in voter is who he claims he is,” Ho wrote for the panel. “And that is plainly material to determining whether an individual is qualified to vote.”

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Texas Dems ripped for ‘cartoonishly dumb’ strategy to flee to blue state notorious for gerrymandering

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is rolling out the red carpet for Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas as they push back against a move by President Donald Trump to add five Republican-controlled congressional seats in their state.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that they’re welcome here, that they have the ability to stay as long as they need to and want to,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Sunday evening as the lawmakers arrived in Illinois.

The lawmakers fled Texas in order to prevent the quorum needed in the Republican-dominated state legislature to vote on Monday on the new redistricting maps, which passed a committee vote this past weekend along party lines.

The redistricting push in Texas is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the House and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats in midterm elections.

But veteran Republican strategist Matt Whitlock argued that the decision by most of the Democratic lawmakers to head to Illinois – with a few others decamping in two other blue states, New York and Massachusetts – was “cartoonishly dumb.”

Tom Bevan, the RealClearPolitics co-founder and president, wrote on X, “The idea that Texas Democrats would flee to Illinois, a state where Dems have abused gerrymandering to comical levels, is perfection.”

“To protest ‘partisan gerrymandering’ Texas Democrats are fleeing to…Illinois,” Republican Missouri Senator Eric Scmitt wrote on X. “You can’t make this up.”

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Abbott Orders Arrest of Fleeing Democrats After House Fails to Reach Quorum

Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the arrest of Texas House Democrats who fled the state to block a Republican redistricting plan, calling their absence a “dereliction of duty.”

On Monday afternoon, the Texas House officially failed to reach the 100-member quorum required to conduct business, with only 90 members present. Members present quickly approved a “call of the House,” a procedural maneuver that authorizes the speaker to compel absent lawmakers to return, by civil arrest if necessary.

“Speaker Dustin Burrows just issued a call of the Texas House and issued warrants to compel members to return to the chamber,” Abbott said. “To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans.”

The call of the House allows the chamber to lock doors, restrict exits, and dispatch law enforcement to retrieve absent members—an escalation used when lawmakers intentionally break quorum. The House is expected to reconvene at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5.

While arrests of members out of state are unlikely, Capitol sources indicate that several quorum-busting Democrats may be hiding in Texas. 

In a floor speech Monday, Speaker Burrows condemned the quorum break, accusing Democrats of abandoning their posts under pressure from out-of-state activists. 

“Leaving the state does not stop this House from doing its work—it only delays it,” said Burrows. 

“I will do everything in my power to establish a quorum and move this body forward by any and all means available.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton also weighed in, releasing a statement calling the Democrats’ walkout a “cowardly desertion.” He warned that they must be “swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law.”

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Kathy Hochul says NY ‘exploring every option to redraw our state congressional lines’ to counteract Texas’ new map

New York Governor Kathy Hochul hosted Texas Democrat lawmakers at the State Capitol on Wednesday, after the lawmakers fled their state in order to deny Republican lawmakers the quorum needed to pass a redistricting proposal. During her speech, Hochul said that she and other New York lawmakers were exploring options to conduct redistricting in the state to counteract redistricting in Texas.

“I have a news flash for Republicans in Texas. This is no longer the Wild West. We’re not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys. Americans don’t want a system that’s stacked against them. They believe in fairness; it’s fundamental. And I’ll tell you this: they’re done with the chaos, they’re done with the cruelty, and I would say they’re ready to vote Republicans out of power in Washington, certainly in the upcoming 2026 elections.”

“Republicans know this. They’ve seen the polls. They know they’re sliding downhill because Americans are rejecting their policies, so this is why they’re fighting. They know they’ll lose the elections, but to subvert the will of the people, they’re hell bent on rigging the system.”

She said that “rigging the system is un-American,” and Congressional districts “are never redrawn mid-decade,” but “here they are flagrantly breaking the rules so they can hold onto power, and with that power they’re going to inflict even more pain, and they’d rather eliminate fairness in the system than to proceed knowing they’re going to lose. They’d rather silence voters than serve them.”

Hochul later added, “what Texas and Republican states are doing at the direction of Donald Trump, I say, is nothing short of a legal insurrection against our Capital—legal meaning they’re using the legal process, does not mean it’s legal, and it must be stopped. If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they’re leaving us no choice, we must do the same. There’s a phrase, ‘you have to fight fire with fire.’ That is a true statement of how we’re feeling right now.

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Texas Democrats’ Walkout Over Redistricting Endangers Hemp Ban Legislation

Texas Democratic House lawmakers are leaving the state to prevent a vote on redrawing the state’s congressional district map in Republicans’ favor—a move that could lead to a stalemate on a Senate-passed bill to ban hemp products containing any THC.

The cannabis legislation moved through the Senate on Friday and is now in the House’s court. But without a quorum, the chamber won’t be able to conduct legislative business as Democratic lawmakers flock to other states such as Illinois and New York—a strategy that’s produced mixed results in the past.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has threatened to remove those legislators from the House if they fail to show back up, and he also said members who received any financial support to leave the state could be subject to prosecution for felony bribery violations.

But in any case, time is running short in the special session the governor convened to address a series of outstanding issues, including legislation related to hemp cannabinoid products. Abbott vetoed an earlier version of the controversial ban, and he recently outlined what he’d like to see in a revised version of the bill.

The special session started on July 21. Under the state constitution, special sessions cannot last longer than 30 days, meaning a quorum would need to be reestablished before August 20 if any bills are to move. Of course, nothing prevents the governor from calling another special session once that deadline passes.

“The path forward for legislation during this special session is unclear, including whether or not a THC ban could advance,” Heather Fazio, director of the advocacy group Texas Cannabis Policy Center, told Marijuana Moment on Monday.

“The status quo is certainly better than THC being banned outright, but we hope the legislature can sort through their differences and find a way to pass common sense regulations that restrict youth access, at minimum,” she said. “We are continuing our advocacy and working with those remain in the building to ensure they understand, the issue can make good decisions when the time comes. That could be later during this first special session or during the next one.”

Austin Zamhariri, executive director of Texas Cannabis Collective (TCC) said that “Texans have been fighting a total hemp consumable ban since it was announced by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) in December of last year.”

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