More than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers left the state on Sunday, in an effort to block the passage of a controversial new redistricting map that would fulfill President Trump's desire to add up to five more Republican congressional seats in the U.S. House.
The move is called "breaking quorum." The Texas House requires 100 members present to conduct business, but only has 88 Republicans. It needs Democrats in the room, even if it doesn't need their votes, in order to enact the new map.
"If you're the minority party, and you can't block any legislation, one nuclear option you always have is to walk out, thereby preventing the legislature from engaging in any activity and particularly passing legislation," explains Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.
By leaving the state for liberal strongholds such as Illinois and New York, dozens of Democrats are bringing the body to a standstill — at least for now. It's not clear how long they'll be able to stay away from their personal and financial obligations, especially since Texas' part-time legislative calendar means that many lawmakers hold second jobs.
The Texas legislature is currently in a 30-day special session to consider the proposed map, among other specific agenda items. And while the session is slated to end on Aug. 19, Gov. Greg Abbott has the authority to call special sessions at any point, in perpetuity.
"This is often a very effective strategy to delay legislation and shine a spotlight on that legislation," Jones says. "But it's not an effective strategy to actually block the legislation, because Gov. Abbott can keep calling the Texas legislature back in special session for month after month after month, and that would require these legislators to remain out of state."
Texas has seen a number of lawmaker walkouts, as long ago as 1870 and as recently as 2021, when Democrats left the state to protest Republican efforts to overhaul voting rules. After nearly five weeks, several lawmakers returned home, allowing for a vote, and the bill passed.
Other states, including Oregon, Indiana and Minnesota, have also seen legislative walkouts in recent years, with mixed results.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, says that while quorum breaks used to be relatively rare, they are happening more often as partisanship increases, in Texas and beyond.
"In the last couple of years, it's become clear that Texas politics is just a reflection of national politics," he says. "The kind of polarization we see, the kinds of issues that are coming up, the ways that the members are acting and the way the governor is acting is all really in keeping with what national politics is doing."
How have previous walkouts played out?
Previous walkouts nationwide have centered on hot-button issues such as redistricting, abortion and voting rights.
"The times where we see these breaks are times when it feels like the political process is totally intractable," Rottinghaus says. "One side feels like they're simply not getting the attention or being able to participate in the process the way that they want, so they simply pick up their marbles and leave the game."
In January, after weeks of fighting over how to manage an equally divided chamber, 66 Minnesota Democrats walked off the floor on the first day of their legislative session.
They managed to block Republicans from electing a speaker and conducting business for three weeks, during which the Minnesota Supreme Court officially set the standard for a quorum at 68 members — bringing lawmakers to the negotiating table. Democrats returned to the floor after the two parties reached a power-sharing agreement in February.
In 2023, Oregon Republicans walked out for six weeks – the longest one out of many in the state's history – over proposed measures protecting abortion rights, gun regulations and gender-affirming care.
It ended with what Republicans considered a victory: Democrats filed new versions of the bills with softer language in certain provisions. But it came at a professional cost. The Republicans violated a 2022 voter-approved measure banning lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences — and the state senators who walked out were blocked from running again.
And Texas also has seen its share of walkouts. In May 2003, more than 50 House Democrats left the state to protest a Republican-backed redistricting plan — similar to the current walkout. They spent a week at a Holiday Inn in Oklahoma, stalling until they missed the legislative deadline for the bill.
But it wasn't a complete success. Then-Gov. Rick Perry called a series of special sessions, during which even more Democrats left. He also sent law enforcement after the Democrats, as far as state lines. After a month, one Democrat returned home, restoring the quorum, and the redistricting bill passed in the third special session.
What are the consequences of walking out?
The Texas lawmakers who walked out in 2003 and 2021 didn't face any real sanctions afterward, by House leadership or by voters, says Jones.
This time around, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republican lawmakers have called for the Democrats who left the state to be arrested when they return.
Abbott has also threatened to remove them from office, citing a legal opinion Paxton wrote in 2021, the last time Texas Democrats broke quorum. And while efforts to remove the lawmakers would likely face legal challenges, some other consequences are inevitable.
Jones says that, after 2021, the Texas House changed its rules to add a $500-a-day fine for every day other lawmakers were out of work. And Rottinghaus says that they potentially could lose other things, such as their office budgets and parking spots.
Beyond that, Rottinghaus says, lawmaker walkouts tend to exacerbate tensions between the two parties, as has been the case in Texas.
"It happened in the 1970s and there were some hard feelings, but by the time it happened in the 2000s, it was bloodsport." he said. "And because of the increasing stakes, it has come to the point where both sides are looking for vengeance. That's not a great place to be politically."
What are the pros of walking out?
If walkouts don't usually work — and can potentially backfire — why do lawmakers continue to use them as a tactic?
"The Democrats' best hope from this is to shine a bright light on what is happening in Texas as a result of some of these national forces," Rottinghaus says, referring to the pressure Trump put on Texas Republicans to redraw its map.
It has sparked concerns that other states could follow suit, reworking their congressional maps more often than the typical 10-year intervals in order to give one party a political advantage. That would violate not only longstanding norms, but also potentially provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that aim to prevent minority vote dilution, says Jones.
"If Texas is successful in this effort of reducing the ability of African Americans and Latinos to elect candidates of their choice … that would suggest that the same would be possible in other states, say, Florida or Missouri," Jones says.
Texas Democrats hope their efforts will compel Republicans to make changes to the redistricting process, either allowing more time for their input or even adjusting the map itself. Even if that doesn't work, Rottinghaus says, getting to make their case to a national audience has its own benefits.
For example, Democratic leaders in states like New York, California and Illinois have welcomed the Texas Democrats and taken up their cause — suggesting that they might respond with some mid-cycle redistricting efforts of their own, even if it takes years.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a Sunday press conference that "everything has to be on the table," while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed on Monday to "do everything in our power to stop this brazen assault." New York may not have the flexibility other states do, though. Because of its state constitution, both lawmakers and voters would have to weigh in, and that could take years.
"Heroes will be made from this action," Rottinghaus says. "This will really make a lot of careers and maybe be a kind of focal point for how Democrats nationally could take a stand. So that's, I think, what they're hoping for."
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