Texas redistricting: Democrat leaders welcome North Texas crowd to opposition rally

FORT WORTH, Texas - It was a packed house Saturday afternoon for an anti-redistricting rally in Fort Worth, hosted by Texas Democrat leaders aiming to stop a GOP push to deepen Texas' red hue.

Fort Worth anti-redistricting rally

The rally, held at the Ridgela Theater by Democratic voter group Powered by People, was meant to support Texas Democrats in their effort to prevent a mid-decade redrawing of congressional maps.

The energized crowd showed up to support the Texas House members who left the state at the start of the week as part of their fight against redistricting.

Powered by People, an organization backed by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke was recently the subject of a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Saturday afternoon, O’Rourke was joined by other Democratic leaders from across the state, including Texas House Democrats, who joined virtually.

In addition to redistricting, Saturday’s speakers talked about healthcare, voting rights, and immigration. 

It was also brought up multiple times the idea of Democratic states like Illinois and California doing their own redistricting. 

What they're saying:

"I was sued by Ken Paxton, not once, but twice this week. But we didn’t react, we didn’t react, we didn’t respond, we didn’t defend, we took this fight right back to him, and we sued him in court in El Paso, Texas," said O'Rourke.

"We’re here, we’re fighting for y’all, we’re fighting for all Americans, but we couldn’t do it without you," said Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston), the House Democrat caucus leader. 

"It is sad that on the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act that we're still having to deal with this, but as long as the likes of Donald Trump keep getting elected into office, we are going to have to keep fighting," said U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey.  

Democrats under fire for quorum break

The backstory:

The lawsuit filed by Paxton claims that the organization is fundraising for the Texas House Democrats to help pay for the fees that representatives get for each day they break quorum. 

The Tarrant County District Court ruled in favor of Paxton and issued a temporary restraining order on the organization, which put a pause on fundraising efforts. Paxton called this a win. 

O’Rourke responded by filing a lawsuit of his own against Paxton. 

While the goal of O'Rourke's suit is unclear at the moment, Paxton's appears to have thrown a temporary wrench in the works of the former congressman's PAC. 

The restraining order granted by the Tarrant County court appears to be specifically against Powered by People's alleged funding, and likely does not affect similar efforts by other Democrat-supporting individuals and organizations. 

Paxton sues Texas Democrats

Dig deeper:

Earlier Friday, Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court to vacate the seats of 13 Democratic lawmakers who left the state to prevent a quorum. 

The move comes after the House again failed to reach a quorum on Friday. Paxton said earlier this week that he would seek the removal of Democrats who left the state if they did not return by 1 p.m. Friday.

Read More:

• Gov. Abbott files suit to remove House Democrat leader from office over quorum break
• 'Come and take it': Texas Dems in MA say they aren't scared of quorum break arrests
• 'Time for y'all to love America again': Texas Dems in Illinois call on Republicans to 'be brave'
• Texas representatives speak out against proposed redistricting map
• Texas redistricting: Rep. Casar holds protest outside Governor's Mansion
• Hakeem Jefferies joins Texas democrats to help fight redistricting effort
• Texas House committee advances redrawn congressional map
• Texas special session: Democrats threatened with arrest for breaking quorum