Dems Against Democracy: Fleebagging Comes to Texas (Again)?

Old and busted: Republicans are a threat to democracy! New-ish hotness: Democrats refuse to participate in legislatures unless they can dictate the outcomes. 

Is this actually a new hotness? Democrats have used the absconding strategy for at least a decade, starting in Wisconsin over public employee union reforms, and most recently in Minnesota over the fact that Democrats didn’t want to admit being in the minority. Now Democrats plan to bring fleebagging back to Texas in an attempt to obstruct a new redistricting effort, which launched officially today:

Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, filed a redistricting bill Wednesday morning, submitting a district map that would reduce representation in North Texas and Houston by one seat each, according to an analysis from Dave’s Redistricting App website based on 2024 results.

Democrats immediately criticised the report.

“Let’s be clear – this map is racist, it’s illegal, and it’s part of a long, ugly tradition of trying to keep Black and Brown Texans from having a voice,” U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, said. “What Donald Trump and Greg Abbott are doing isn’t about democracy – it’s about consolidating power.”

Ah yes, the ‘everything is raaaaaacist‘ argument. That should sell well in 2025, no? It’s right up there with ‘Sydney Sweeney’s ad is faaaaaascist‘ arguments. 

Even if one believes that the effort to redistrict in Texas is based on racial animus — when it’s clearly based on electoral prospects in 2026 — that would be an argument for debate in the legislature, and then in court. After all, the state legislature exists to debate such legislation, and its representatives are expected to do that work on behalf of their constituents. It’s the model of representative democracy and constitutional order, which Democrats claimed to be fiercely defending all of last year in the election. 

So will Democrats fiercely defend democracy in the Texas state legislature? According to the Texas Tribune, Texas ‘Democrats’ may opt to hold democracy and the legislature hostage instead. They’ve already begun fundraising to cover the legal costs of fleebagging:

As Republicans in Texas move full steam ahead with a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, Democrats are privately mulling their options, including an expensive and legally dicey quorum break.

If they go that route, it appears they will have the backing of big-dollar Democratic donors.

By fleeing the state to deprive the Legislature of enough members to function, Democrats would each incur a fine of $500 per day and face the threat of arrest. Deep-pocketed donors within the party appear ready to cover these expenses, according to three people involved in the discussions.

It’s not the first time that Texas Democrats held democracy hostage. Four years ago, they tried to deny Republicans a quorum over voting reforms that were hardly Draconian, and in fact turned out to have been fairly mundane. They also called that effort raaaaacist, and also fundraised to defray the legal costs. 

That might be tougher this time around, as Republicans forced changes to campaign-finance rules after the last fleebagging effort:

Texas House rules prohibit lawmakers from dipping into their campaign coffers to pay the fines. Republicans approved the $500 daily punishment in 2023, two years after Democrats fled the state in an unsuccessful bid to stop Republicans from passing an overhaul of the state’s election laws.

Democrats’ solution to this problem? Lying about the money:

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat who was part of the 2021 quorum break, sees a path to circumvent the campaign finance rules: With minimal limits on external income, Texas lawmakers can simply accept the donations as another salary, she said. As one of the most prolific fundraisers in the U.S. House, Crockett said she’s willing to tap her donor base — and her $3.7 million war chest — to cover the expenses.

Ahem. Even if this managed to tiptoe around campaign finance laws in Texas — and I doubt that — it establishes a model for massive grift. Campaign disbursements to cronies can use the same “salary” dodge, paying off special interests and pals. 

I fail to see how any of this ‘protects democracy.’ It looks more like a massive effort to deny democracy, staged by a bunch of sore losers who’d rather hold voters hostage than do their jobs. And I suspect that Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton have plans to ensure that this hostaging will be as painful as possible to the fleebaggers, if and when they use this lily-livered strategy. 

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