In a blistering statement released Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton torched rogue Democrat lawmakers who fled the state to block a Republican-backed redistricting plan, accusing them of abandoning their constitutional responsibilities and vowing to hold them accountable under Texas law.
Over 50 Democratic state lawmakers abruptly abandoned their posts and left the state—trashing the special session and scuttling Republican-led redistricting efforts—according to The Texas Tribune.
Governor Greg Abbott (R) issued a final, no‑excuses deadline: 3:00 PM Central on Monday, August 4, to return and allow business to continue, or face immediate legal removal from office.
Texas Democrats are refusing to return by Governor Abbott’s 3 pm deadline.
“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘Come and take it?’ That’s what we’re saying,” Texas State Rep. Jolanda Jones (D) said in a press conference with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
Now, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has released a fiery statement condemning rogue Democrat lawmakers who fled the state in a coordinated effort to derail the Texas Legislature.
“Instead of showing up to work and doing the jobs they were elected to do, House Democrat members have fled the state in a cowardly desertion of their responsibilities as elected officials. These jet-setting runaways abandoned Texas, abdicated their duties in the House, and sacrificed their constituents for a publicity stunt,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I am prepared to do everything in my power to hold them accountable because these liberal lawmakers are not above the law. It’s imperative that they be swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law for turning their backs on the people of Texas.”
In 2021, Attorney General Paxton’s office successfully secured a Texas Supreme Court ruling that held that the House could arrest absent members to secure their presence and establish a quorum. That ruling helped create the current legal framework, which allows for rogue lawmakers to be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol. Attorney General Paxton will continue to use every legal tool at his disposal to enforce the law and stop the radical lawmakers from ignoring their duty to the people of Texas and breaking quorum. “
House Democrats have fled the state in a cowardly desertion of their responsibilities.
These jet-setting runaways abandoned Texas and sacrificed their constituents for a publicity stunt. It’s imperative that they be swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law. pic.twitter.com/1P66QxSJIz
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 4, 2025
This comes after Paxton’s office successfully defended the Texas House’s authority to arrest and compel attendance of absent lawmakers in a 2021 landmark ruling by the Texas Supreme Court.
That ruling affirmed Article III, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution — which grants the legislature explicit power to “compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.”
The Court slammed attempts to reinterpret that constitutional authority and reaffirmed that the legislature may use physical compulsion, including arrest, to bring quorum-busting lawmakers back to the chamber.
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