Paxton Expands Legal Fight Against Texas Democrats

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has intensified his campaign against Democratic lawmakers who left Texas to block a GOP-backed redistricting plan by filing lawsuits in Texas and in out-of-state courts, including California and Illinois, seeking civil arrest of the absent Democrats. Paxton has requested the Texas Supreme Court expel 13 Democratic legislators and obtained a temporary restraining order against Beto O’Rourke’s Powered by People PAC, alleging it illegally funded the lawmakers' absence. O’Rourke and the Democrats have responded with a countersuit, accusing Paxton of political intimidation. Some lawmakers, like Rep. Philip Cortez, have remained in Texas to oppose the redistricting plan from within. Rallies led by O’Rourke in Fort Worth have gathered public support for the Democrats’ tactics. Legal experts note that similar quorum-breaking actions have precedent and that abandonment of office is a difficult charge to prove, leaving the outcome of Paxton’s legal actions uncertain.