FBI Helping GOP Track Down Texas Democrats Denounced as 'Threat to Our Democracy'

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to help track down Texas lawmakers who left the state in a bid to block a new congressional map rigged to favor Republicans, sparking fears of a potential standoff between various law enforcement agencies or even illegal arrests by the FBI.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies in the state Legislature are trying to force through the map for 2026 during a special session to appease President Donald Trump. After over 50 elected Democrats fled to Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York on Sunday, their GOP colleagues issued civil arrest warrants, and Cornyn sent a letter requesting federal assistance.

"I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats," Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a Thursday statement. "I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas. We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities."

The Texas Tribune reported that "a spokesperson for Cornyn declined to provide additional information about the specifics of the FBI's involvement, and the bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

Responding in a statement, Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said that "the idea that the FBI would be weaponized to hunt down democratically elected lawmakers because they are standing in the way of President Trump's partisan political agenda should alarm every American."

"It's taking a page out of the authoritarian playbook to intimidate political opponents and force a vote on rigged electoral maps that would help MAGA Republicans cling to power," she added. "We stand with the brave Democratic lawmakers who are putting everything on the line to resist this partisan power grab orchestrated by Trump and Gov. Abbott, and we urge them to keep up the fight."

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the group Public Citizen, said that "when politicians deploy federal law enforcement against state elected officials simply for opposing their agenda, they attack our system and put our American freedoms at risk. We stand with the patriotic legislators who are resisting this authoritarian overreach. This moment represents a deep-seated threat to our democracy as we know it."

Experts and elected officials, including Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have emphasized that the FBI does not have the authority to enforce the civil warrants, and the Texas Democrats don't face any criminal ones. On Wednesday, News Not Noise's Jessica Yellin asked Pritzker about Cornyn's request to the FBI and Trump's comment that the agency "may have to" get involved.

"Well, they're grandstanding," the Illinois governor said. "There literally is no federal law applicable to this situation—none. They can say that they're sending FBI. FBI agents might show up just to—I don't know—again, to put a show on."

"But the fact is that, you know, our local law enforcement protect everybody in Illinois," he continued. "Our state troopers protect everybody in Illinois and anybody who's here in Illinois. And so, whether it's federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven't broken federal law, you're basically unwelcome, and there's no way that our state legislators here—the Texas state legislators—can be arrested."

Pritzker also stressed that the entire series of events "is really all about politics," explaining that Abbott is an "avid follower" of Trump, and Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging Cornyn for his Senate seat, "so they're fighting, bickering over who can be tougher on this topic."

The gerrymandering battle has also generated at least one major threat of violence. Early Wednesday, a hotel in the Chicago suburbs where some Texas Democrats are staying had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat. Local law enforcement searched the building before allowing guests to return.

"All members are safe; everything is fine, and we are charting the course forward," Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, said after the evacuation. "It's going to take more than a couple of threats to try to scare Texas Democrats off of this course. It is essential to us and what we believe as Democrats that people deserve representation in our government, and we are moving full steam ahead."

Reporting on Cornyn's Thursday statement about the FBI, The New York Times noted that "several Democrats said that as of Thursday morning no federal agents had been seen or reported at their hotel, in St. Charles, Illinois."