State and national Republicans this week are trying to pull out all the stops to punish Democratic lawmakers who fled, hoping to thwart a Trump-demanded gerrymandering effort. Trump has been pushing for Texas Republicans to engage in the once-unprecedented practice of mid-decade redistricting as the Republican Party holds a historically tiny majority in the U.S. House ahead of the midterms.
On Wednesday afternoon, state Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he would pursue an investigation into a liberal group that had funded some state lawmaker’s departure for Democratic-controlled states. On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott said he would try to get the state Supreme Court to remove the chair of the Texas House Democratic caucus from office, and President Trump said the FBI “may have to” get involved in tracking down and arresting state Democrats, an intervention by federal law enforcement first requested by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
Most seriously, Texas Democratic faced a bomb threat at their Chicago hotel on Wednesday morning.
As Texas Republicans go to extremes to punish their colleagues, Democratic states are researching their options to redistrict, creating bluer maps before the midterms to counter Texas.
Follow along below for updates:
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State and national Republicans this week are trying to pull out all the stops to punish Democratic lawmakers who fled, hoping to thwart a Trump-demanded gerrymandering effort. Trump has been pushing for Texas Republicans to engage in the once-unprecedented practice of mid-decade redistricting as the Republican Party holds a historically tiny majority in the U.S. House ahead of the midterms.
On Wednesday afternoon, state Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he would pursue an investigation into a liberal group that had funded some state lawmaker’s departure for Democratic-controlled states. On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott said he would try to get the state Supreme Court to remove the chair of the Texas House Democratic caucus from office, and President Trump said the FBI “may have to” get involved in tracking down and arresting state Democrats, an intervention by federal law enforcement first requested by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
Most seriously, Texas Democratic faced a bomb threat at their Chicago hotel on Wednesday morning.
As Texas Republicans go to extremes to punish their colleagues, Democratic states are researching their options to redistrict, creating bluer maps before the midterms to counter Texas.
Follow along below for updates: