Abbott To AWOL Texas Democrats: Respect Voters Or Be Removed

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a blunt ultimatum on Sunday to more than 50 state House Democrats who fled the state to block a Republican-backed redistricting plan: return to do your jobs or be removed from office.

Abbott set a deadline of 3:00 p.m. Monday for the runaway lawmakers to return to the Texas Capitol or face legal and constitutional consequences. In his statement, the governor said the mass departure amounted to “an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office” and vowed to begin proceedings to fill the vacancies if Democrats refused to return.

“Real Texans do not run from a fight. But that’s exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did,” Abbott said. “Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business.”

The special session, which began July 21, was called to address redistricting, disaster relief, tax policy, and abortion legislation. Democrats chose instead to shut down the legislative process entirely by fleeing to Illinois, a state infamous for partisan gerrymandering, in order to prevent Republicans from redrawing congressional maps that could flip as many as five seats toward the GOP.

Abbott wasn’t the only Republican leader demanding accountability. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton echoed the governor’s outrage, calling for the AWOL Democrats to be arrested and returned to the Capitol by force if necessary. “Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,” Paxton said. “We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”

Abbott further warned that any Democrat who used campaign funds or solicited donations to pay the $500 per day fines for skipping the session could face potential bribery charges.

“The absconded Democrat House members were elected to meet and vote on legislation—not to prevent votes that may not go their way,” the governor said. “Every session, legislators on both sides of the aisle find themselves on the losing side of a legislative vote. And every session, most of those legislators find a way to disagree agreeably and behave like adults, rather than going AWOL.”

Despite that, the runaway Democrats remained defiant, staging a press conference in Illinois alongside Democrat Governor JB Pritzker. “Governor Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump so that Donald Trump can steal these communities’ power and voice,” Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu claimed. “We’re not here to play political games, we’re here to demand an end to this corrupt process.”

But critics argue that skipping town is the political game—and one that voters are growing tired of. This is the second time in three years that Texas House Democrats have fled the state to derail legislation. The last stunt, in 2021, failed to stop a Republican election integrity bill, which ultimately passed after a standoff ended with law enforcement authorized to arrest missing lawmakers.

Now, history is repeating itself—and the consequences may be steeper.

Abbott’s deadline is clear: return to work or be replaced. Whether the Democrats choose to return or continue hiding out, one thing is certain—Texans are watching. And many won’t forget which lawmakers stood and fought, and which ones ran.