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Texas Dems Can’t Win Redistricting Fight, So They Bravely Turn Tail And Flee The State

RNN Staff

In a familiar display of political cowardice, Texas Democrats are once again fleeing the state rather than facing a legislative defeat they can’t prevent at the ballot box or in the Capitol. Their target this time: a Republican-led redistricting proposal that would cement GOP gains in the Lone Star State for the next decade.

According to Politico, dozens of Democrat lawmakers are planning to break quorum and escape to Illinois—a state known for its own aggressive gerrymandering—in a desperate bid to block the redrawing of Texas’s voting maps. The new lines could add up to five more Republican-leaning seats in a state already dominated by the GOP.

Faced with the hard reality that they don’t have the votes, Democrats are once again choosing flight over fight, theatrics over debate, and obstruction over democracy.

“The choice was clear: Stand by while Abbott silences millions of Black and Latino voters, or use every tool available to stop this assault on our democracy. This corrupt special session is over,” Texas Democrats said in a statement, using racial panic and overwrought language to justify their decision to abandon the legislative process.

They also accused Governor Greg Abbott of politicizing recent flood victims in the Hill Country by prioritizing redistricting during a special session. “Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump,” the statement claimed, adding that disaster relief was being “held hostage to a Trump gerrymander.”

What Democrats call a “Trump gerrymander” is, in fact, a routine redistricting process that takes place every ten years—one they oppose only because they’re losing.

Their destination this time? Illinois, of all places—a Democrat stronghold infamous for brutal partisan gerrymanders that have shut Republicans out of congressional relevance. The irony, of course, is lost on no one.

This isn’t the first time Texas Democrats have staged a dramatic walkout. In 2021, they pulled the same stunt in protest of an election integrity bill. That bill passed anyway, and Democrats eventually had to return to Texas after 38 days in hiding. At the time, Governor Abbott threatened to veto their pay and instructed law enforcement to detain and return AWOL lawmakers to the Capitol.

“If they step back into the state, they will be arrested and brought back to the Capitol,” Abbott warned then. Now, Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison is calling on the governor to take similar action and restore order.

“These lawmakers were elected to represent their constituents, not abandon them when they don’t get their way,” Harrison said. “If they want to hide in Illinois, then maybe their constituents should elect people who are actually willing to show up and do the job.”

Once again, the Democratic strategy is not persuasion, negotiation, or leadership—it’s obstruction through absence. And once again, Texans are left watching their elected officials duck responsibility and flee accountability.

The GOP, meanwhile, appears determined to move forward with reshaping Texas’s political map. And if history is any guide, it won’t be long before Democrats come crawling back—kicking, screaming, and realizing once again that running away might delay a vote, but it won’t change the outcome.

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