Texas Democrats who fled the state to postpone a GOP redistricting plan are blasting the recent involvement of the FBI to “hunt us down,” accusing Republicans of amping up rhetoric and putting a “dangerous target” on their backs.
On a call with reporters, Democratic state Reps. Armando Welle and Mary Gonzalez, along with state Sen. Molly Cook, said that the FBI has “no authority” to locate and forcibly bring them back to Texas. The agency approved Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) request to locate the “runaway” Democrats, the senator announced Thursday.
“They have no authority to hunt us down,” Welle said. “They just don’t.”
Welle said lawmakers who have fled the state received a security briefing on the FBI joining the Texas Rangers and the Texas Department of Public Safety in locating and possibly arresting the absentees.
Democrats are blasting the involvement of the FBI as evidence of an “authoritarian” regime, and others argue that national law enforcement has no jurisdiction over state affairs.
“We understand, based on precedent, that it is the right of legislators to break quorum,” Cook said on the call. “It is a fair form of dissidence, it just is.”
Over 50 Democrats left the state on Sunday to deny the Republican majority a quorum, or the necessary number of attendees required to conduct business, for the scheduled legislative session beginning Monday. The session was called to vote on redrawing the state’s maps that could add as many as five new congressional seats in the GOP’s favor to help bolster the Republican delegation in Congress.
Cornyn asked FBI Director Kash Patel to work with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) to investigate potential criminal acts and “hold lawmakers accountable who have fled the state in a shameful attempt to stall” the House’s legislative session.
“I’m terrified that the rhetoric coming from both my colleagues, the governor, the attorney general, and the president is putting a dangerous target on our backs,” Gonzalez, the state lawmaker, said on Thursday’s press call. “Words have consequences, and in a moment in time like right now, when you’re telling, ‘Hunt them down, here’s our location, go get them’ — what do they think is going to happen?”
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Also on the docket for the session is voting on financial relief for those affected by the recent flooding disasters in the state. Democrats have accused Republicans of politicizing the funding relief by tying it to the redistricting efforts.
“Violence is being suggested as opposed to helping people’s lives,” Gonzalez said. “There are more tweets about going after us and finding us and arresting us, then there are about the urgent moment that we are in, that people are displaced, do not have homes. … That should literally be every tweet, every conversation, every moment of energy should be on, used on that.”
Democrats have insisted they will not back down, with Welle saying that, to his knowledge, his colleagues are not being swayed to end their efforts early. State Rep. Lulu Flores said a majority of her colleagues were with her in Illinois, supported by Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) and other Illinois Democrats, and that “we plan to stay as long as it takes.”
Republicans, including Abbott, have said Democrats are “abandoning their duty to Texas.” In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, the governor projected confidence that using law enforcement will get them to return.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen this before, because this is not the first time that Democrats have run from doing their job,” Abbott said. “And in the past, whenever the Texas Department of Public Safety shows up, the Democrats located in the state of Texas, they say, ‘OK, I will agree to show up.’ And they do so. And we think the same thing is going to happen this time.”
“When a knock comes on the door, and a DPS officer is there, they realize that the gig is up and it’s time to get to Austin, Texas. And so we do expect a quorum to be coming sometime soon,” the governor added.
Abbott said he will call “special session after special session” until the congressional maps are passed, “regardless of how long the Democrats hold out in these leftist states.”
The governor also commented on the flooding aid on the docket, saying the Democrats’ decision to break quorum “tied the hands of the state to be able to address the needs of our fellow Texans.”
“Our fellow Texans are angry at these Democrats for not showing up and doing their job,” Abbott said.
Democrats have brushed off these remarks, arguing the governor has the authority to address the funding immediately.
“People want to see us work on flooding and reducing costs,” Cook said. “It’s very clear, and yet our Republican colleagues continue to prioritize the priorities of their donors, things like vouchers and redistricting. We know that the governor is currently sitting on money and expansive emergency powers that he has deployed liberally at the border throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and has chosen not to take any action despite the recent tragedy in the hill country.”
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Gonzalez said that Abbott is using the flooding tragedy as part of a “political agenda,” also pointing to the use of disaster declarations to fund the border wall and noting Abbott sits on the FEMA Review Council, which is “actively helping gut the agency that has provided Texas nearly $15 billion in disaster relief since 2015.”
“It’s a clear example of how he can move money where he wants to,” Gonzalez said. “Right now, in this moment in time, the governor is blocking available state aid while demanding for this special session to happen. So again, choosing political theater over Texans’ lives.”
