Republican primary opponents in the Texas Senate race are flexing their muscles and seeking separate legal consequences for Democrats who fled the state to disrupt a legislative session on mid-decade redistricting.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a press release Tuesday afternoon that he is seeking a court ruling declaring the seats held by the absent lawmakers vacant if they are not back to work by Friday.
“The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines,” Paxton said. “If you don’t show up to work, you get fired.”
BREAKING: I will seek judicial orders declaring that runaway Democrats who fail to appear by the Speaker’s deadline have vacated their office.
The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don’t show up to work, you get fired. pic.twitter.com/yyPWavY38P
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 5, 2025
This comes a few hours after Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said he asked FBI Director Kash Patel to coordinate with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Texas law officials to “investigate potential CRIMINAL acts, including bribery” and hold the lawmakers accountable for fleeing the state in a “shameful attempt to stall the legislative process in the Texas House.”
I have asked @FBIDirectorKash to work with @GregAbbott_TX & Texas law enforcement to investigate potential CRIMINAL acts, including bribery, and to hold legislators accountable who have fled the state in a shameful attempt to stall the legislative process in the Texas House.…
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) August 5, 2025
Over 50 Texas Democrats left the state on Sunday, denying Abbott a quorum in the state House to redraw the state’s congressional maps that could add as many as five new congressional seats. The session comes at the request of Abbott and President Donald Trump to help bolster the GOP delegation in Congress.
Cornyn and Paxton are facing each other in a competitive primary for the 2026 Senate race, where polls are showing Paxton in the lead. Trump has stayed neutral in the primary, though the Republican opponents are grabbing hold of the opportunity of the absent Democrats and placing fingerprints on the redistricting issue as they vie for the GOP nomination.
During Monday’s scheduled session, the state House passed a motion for arrest warrants for the lawmakers who left the state, a move that is largely symbolic as the warrants only apply within state lines.
Abbott has pledged to remove the Democrats from office, directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate and arrest the absent legislators, and ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate the state House Democrats for possible bribery — as well as “any other potential legal violations connected to their refusal to appear for a quorum, conduct business, and cast votes.”
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The state Democrats are not expected to return to the Lone Star State any time soon. The lawmakers have traveled to Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York to meet with Democratic governors and lawmakers.
“We’re here in Illinois, correct, and we plan to stay as long as it takes,” Texas state Rep. Lulu Flores said on CNN. “You’ve just heard that the special session lasts until August 19. That’s the very least time that we expect to be out here.”