Gov. Abbott will call special sessions until Texas Democrats return

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would continue to call special legislative sessions until Democratic lawmakers who left the state return to the Capitol.

Both the Texas House and Senate indicated they would end the current special session early if Democrats do not return by Friday.

"With the Texas House and Senate today announcing they are prepared to sine die on Friday, I will call the Texas Legislature back immediately for Special Session #2," Abbott said. "The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans."

Abbott called the first special session to begin on July 21. Each special session can last up to 30 days.

Texas legislature special sessions

Abbott indicated Tuesday that he was prepared to continue to call lawmakers back for special sessions until Democrats returned.

What they're saying:

"There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them," Abbott said. "I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed."

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the Texas Senate will pass the remaining bills in the special session before calling sine die so the next special session can begin.

"Today and tomorrow, the Texas Senate will pass the remaining bills on Gov. Abbott’s special session call, including the new congressional map, which adds five new Republican congressional districts, and essential legislation related to the July 4th flooding across Texas," Patrick said.

Patrick said the Senate was prepared to continue passing the same bill through each special session.

"Let me be clear: the Texas Senate will pass the bills on Gov. Abbott’s special session call over, and over, and over again until the House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ to do the people’s business," Patrick said. "The decision is theirs."

Calls for vacating Democratic seats in Texas House

Texas House Democrats left the state on Aug. 3 in response to a Republican effort to redraw the state's congressional maps ahead of the midterm elections in the hopes of adding five Republican seats to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since Aug. 4, the House has been unable to call a quorum and conduct business.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to remove some Democrats that left the state.

Abbott has also petitioned the court to remove Democratic House leader Rep. Gene Wu from office.

Can Democrats break quorum?

In 2021, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the Texas Constitution allows for quorum breaks, but also allows for consequences to bring members back.

Threats to arrest Texas Democrats

The backstory:

Texas Republican leaders have threatened to have the quorum breakers arrested, even requesting aid from agencies outside the state in the effort. 

Last week, Paxton requested courts in California and Illinois to rule that warrants issued in Texas be recognized in those states for the purpose of arresting Democrats and bringing them back to the state.

Texas redistricting effort

Dig deeper:

The newly proposed map increases the number of congressional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points by five.

Republicans currently control 25 of the state's 38 Congressional districts.

The new map makes some big changes in North Texas. It moves Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey’s district from Tarrant to Dallas County, Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson’s district moves from Dallas and Collin County to more conservative sections of East Texas, and Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas seat becomes one of just two majority Black districts in the entire state.

The Democrats claim the redrawn maps will violate the federal Voting Rights Act, but that may be difficult for them to prove.

In Central Texas, Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett would find their districts vastly different from the current map.

The district currently held by Casar would no longer include Travis County, while the district held by Doggett would no longer include a portion of Williamson County.

In Houston, the new map reshapes four currently Democrat-held districts. The biggest change to the districts would be in the seat currently held by Rep. Al Green. The new map would shift the district from covering southern Harris County and instead move it to the eastern part of the county.