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Texas AG Paxton Files 'Baseless' Lawsuit to Unseat 13 Democratic State Lawmakers
"This seat doesn't belong to him or me—it belongs to the people," one targeted legislator defiantly declared.
Aug 08, 2025
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued former Congressman Beto O'Rourke and his political action committee in what critics called a "baseless" bid to oust 13 Democratic lawmakers who left the state in an effort to thwart a GOP gerrymandering scheme.
Paxton's office claimed that O'Rourke, a Democrat, and his Powered by People PAC illegally solicited donations to cover personal expenses for Democratic state legislators who fled Texas in an effort to block a Republican plan to rig the state's congressional map at the behest of President Donald Trump.
Paxton is seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction to stop O'Rourke and Powered by People from raising or distributing funds to support the more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left Texas. The attorney general argued that 13 state legislative seats "have been vacated due to continued unlawful absences."
"Democrat runaways are likely accepting Beto Bribes to underwrite their jet-setting sideshow in far-flung places and misleadingly raising political funds to pay for personal expenses," Paxton alleged in a statement. "This out-of-state, cowardly cabal is abandoning their constitutional duties. I will not allow failed political has-beens to buy off Texas elected officials."
This, after Paxton and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-83) asked an Illinois court to enforce civil arrest warrants issued Monday in a bid to compel Democratic state legislators to return to Austin to vote on the legislation. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) also enlisted the FBI's assistance to track down and arrest the absconding Democrats.
O'Rourke said Friday that Powered by People filed a retaliatory lawsuit accusing Paxton of using "the power of the state of Texas to try and intimidate Mr. O'Rourke from challenging defendant in a free and fair election."
"The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five congressional seats," O'Rourke told KVUE. "Let's stop these thugs before they steal our country."
Targeted Democratic lawmakers also waxed defiant, backed by officials in the states to which they fled including Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzer asserted that "there literally is no federal law applicable to this situation."
Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-50) said on social media that "Ken Paxton just filed a lawsuit to remove me from office. But this seat doesn't belong to him or me—it belongs to the people."
Advocacy groups also denounced Paxton's lawsuit, with Brett Edkins, managing director of policy and political affairs at Stand Up America, contending that the attorney general and Texas Republicans "are so desperate to pass their partisan redistricting scheme that they're launching a baseless legal assault to unseat democratically elected lawmakers."
"It's just the latest threat against lawmakers who refuse to carry out Trump's demands and rig congressional maps to bank five new Republican congressional districts," Edkins added. "The courts shouldn't entertain this undemocratic attack for even one second."
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With Texas Dems on the Run, Vance Urges GOP Gerrymandering in Indiana
"We're in a knife fight for our democracy here in Indiana," said Democratic state lawmakers. "Trump is trying to bully the Indiana GOP into tearing apart our democracy."
Aug 07, 2025
Amid the specter of federal agents hunting down absconding Democratic state lawmakers resisting a Republican bid to gerrymander Texas' congressional map, U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday traveled to Indiana, where his pitch for rigging that state's House districts was met with raucous opposition.
Vance met with Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, who was reportedly "noncommittal" about redrawing the state's congressional map. In a Thursday interview on Fox News, Braun said that Indiana has "become more Republican over time, and these maps probably need to be looked at"—even as he admitted that a mid-decade redraw not linked to the decennial census would be "unusual."
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Republican, took to social media to thank Vance for his visit and voice support for redistricting.
"Redistricting isn't just politics—it's about ensuring the voice of We the People is heard loud and clear," Beckwith said. "Indiana is proud to play a key role in shaping a stronger, freer future for our nation and as lieutenant governor I fully support this effort!"
According to the Indianapolis Star, protestors organized by the nonprofit group MADVoters booed for more than a minute after learning that Vance was in the State House. Opponents of gerrymandering, led by Democratic state lawmakers, staged an hourslong sit-in protest.
"This is clearly a power grab," state Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-94) told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. "This is simply an attempt by the president to stay in power forever."
Julia Vaughn, executive director of the advocacy group Common Cause Indiana, said Republicans should be prepared for a legal fight over any redistricting.
"We will see you in court, Gov. Braun," she said. "Leave our congressional maps alone!"
More than 100 demonstrators also rallied outside the Indiana Governor's Mansion to protest Republican gerrymandering machinations.
Via IndyStar:Close to 100 people have gathered outside of the Indiana Governor’s Mansion to protest the state government, who floated the idea of redistricting the state in favor of Republican candidates.Indiana GOP already hold 7 of the state's 9 US. House seats. #indianapolis #hoosiersky
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— Noe Padilla (@noepadilla.bsky.social) August 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Republicans already occupy seven of Indiana's nine House seats. Any redistricting would likely target the state's 1st District, which is represented by Congressman Frank Mrvan, a Democrat.
"The Trump administration has recognized that their harmful policies to benefit wealthy elites at the expense of working families are wildly unpopular. They know that their only hope to maintain control is to pressure the Indiana General Assembly to violate the Indiana Constitution and redistrict U.S. House of Representative seats mid-decade," Mrvan said in a statement.
"My mission throughout my career as a public servant and as a member of the U.S. House is to advocate for the most vulnerable in our communities," Mrvan added. "Any attempt to redistrict now is simply an attempt to silence those very voices."
Indiana's other Democratic congressman, André Carson of the 7th District, said: "Redistricting attempts in Indiana are a power grab. It's unethical and the move of a dictator."
"We won't accept our democracy turning into a dictatorship," Carson added. "Attempts to silence our vote exist right now. We want our Republican friends to do the right thing."
Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives also issued a statement, saying that "we're in a knife fight for our democracy here in Indiana."
"We're getting the word out that President [Donald] Trump is trying to bully the Indiana GOP into tearing apart our democracy—but we're not letting this happen without a big, public fight," the Democrats added.
Responding to the vice president's gerrymandering pitch, Brett Edkins, managing director for policy and political affairs at the pro-democracy group Stand Up America, said in a statement that "Vance didn't visit Indiana for a friendly chat—he was there on marching orders from Donald Trump to strong-arm and intimidate state leaders into rigging the electoral maps in his favor so that congressional Republicans can avoid accountability from the voters in next year's midterm elections."
"Hoosiers deserve leaders who listen to them—not bullies from Washington, D.C. doing Trump's bidding behind closed doors," Edkins added. "Gov. Braun and Indiana's leaders should reject any effort to redraw Indiana's political maps for partisan ends."
Republicans are weighing plans for congressional redistricting in other states, including Florida, Missouri, and Ohio, ahead of next year's midterm elections. Governors and lawmakers in some Democrat-controlled states have vowed to respond in kind, with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul saying earlier this week that members of her party should "fight fire with fire."
Vance's Indiana visit came amid an escalating standoff between Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state in a bid to stymie a vote on a GOP-grerrymandered congressional map and Republican officials who ordered their arrest and enlisted the FBI to help track them down and force them back to Austin.
"Let's call this what it is: a clear attempt to rig federal elections and cheat the American people out of a voice," National Democratic Redistricting Committee president John Bisognano said Thursday of the GOP gerrymandering push in Indiana and other states.
"Republicans in the Hoosier State have a choice," he added. "They can stand up against the authoritarian regime in Washington and help stop this attempt to steal an election—just as Republicans in Georgia and Arizona did in 2020—or they can roll over to Donald Trump, sacrificing the rights and freedoms of all Americans, and see the wall of resistance Texas Republicans are seeing right now."
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FBI Helping GOP Track Down Texas Democrats Denounced as 'Threat to Our Democracy'
"They're grandstanding. There literally is no federal law applicable to this situation—none," said the governor of Illinois, which is hosting some of the lawmakers trying to prevent GOP gerrymandering.
Aug 07, 2025
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."
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