Ken Paxton files suit against California

By Aarón Torres, Kathryn Muchnick, Matt Kyle
The Dallas Morning News

Austin, Texas — Ken Paxton is asking that California law enforcement officers be allowed to arrest Texas House Democrats who are staying in the state, according to a lawsuit the attorney general filed Friday.

It’s the second time this week Paxton has petitioned a state to allow civil arrest warrants issued by the Texas House to be enforced outside of state lines. Paxton filed a similar lawsuit on Thursday in Illinois state court against 33 House Democrats, who have been staying near Chicago as they attempt to stop a congressional map from passing.

“Texans are fed up with lawmakers who refuse to do their jobs and instead run away to states like California to exploit radical governors’ broken political systems as a shield,” Paxton said in a statement Saturday announcing the lawsuit.

The Texas House has been at a standstill since Monday after more than 50 Democrats fled the state in protest of a new congressional map that would shift five districts to the GOP’s favor.

The petition naming six House Democratic lawmakers argues that California must honor Texas’ legal acts and judicial outcomes under the “full faith and credit clause” in the U.S. Constitution.

Paxton filed his lawsuit in Tehama County, a Northern California county more than 100 miles from Sacramento. Tehama County supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, with the president gaining 64% of the vote while then-Vice President Kamala Harris received 33%.

Harris carried California with 59% of the vote, suggesting Paxton likely filed the petition in a county that might be more receptive to the Republican attorney general’s argument. Paxton filed his lawsuit in Illinois in a county that supported Trump — Adams County. Illinois supported Harris in the presidential election.

House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said Friday that more lawsuits like the one filed in Illinois were on the horizon. Republican officials in Texas have been intensifying the pressure in their efforts to bring Democratic lawmakers back to the House.

Burrows said he and Paxton will continue their efforts to bring lawmakers back to Texas.

“All members will eventually have to come back, but the business before the House is too important to wait on the outside political influences pushing these members to delay the inevitable,” Burrows said in a statement Saturday.

In addition to the daily fines and civil arrest warrants Democrats are facing, Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott have both asked the Texas Supreme Court to expel some of the Democratic members from the Texas House for breaking quorum.

“We are running from nothing,” Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, said Friday at a news conference in California. Johnson was among the six named in Paxton’s lawsuit. “We are here to give hope to others, to stand up and be courageous in this moment.”

The redistricting fight has drawn national attention and could lead to an all-out redistricting battle between the states. House Democrats were in California as state lawmakers there rushed to schedule a special election to rework their congressional maps that will serve as a counter to Texas’ congressional maps.

Within Texas, the congressional redistricting effort has shown to be unpopular. Legislative hearings on the maps have drawn far more people who oppose the maps and the mid-decade redistricting task amid a special session that asks lawmakers to pass legislation in response to the deadly Hill Country floods.

Republicans’ redistricting plan also sparked protests in Dallas on Saturday, with about 100 people gathering in Dealey Plaza to protest the proposed redistricting maps and support the Democrats who left the state.

Protesters, interspersed with tour groups, held signs that said “Don’t tread on Texas Voters” and “No new maps.” Cars driving through the plaza honked in support.

The protest was organized by Indivisible Dallas, which encouraged attendees to register to vote and had tables with information about the redistricting push and gerrymandering. After about 45 minutes, the group marched down Commerce Street to the federal courthouse, then back to Dealey Plaza.

Mindy Miller, 66, was at Saturday’s protest in support of Texas Democrats. The Dallas local said that the fight over redistricting is “fundamental” to democracy.

“Our voice is being diluted,” she said. “My vote doesn’t matter if they’re constantly gerrymandering.”

Jamie Bruner, 55, came to the protest with her neighbor Mary Cato, 76. The two live in Arlington and said they previously attended a hearing at the University of Texas at Arlington, where the redistricting of the Tarrant County commissioners court districts was discussed.

Bruner said redistricting is “cheating” and said it was scary to see how fast the redrawn maps evolved from Tarrant County to the whole state of Texas.

“I’m hoping enough people can stand up and let their voices be heard that they realize that even if they do cheat, we’re still gonna fight,” she said.