Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett reportedly suggested a potential loophole to help foot the bill for Democratic lawmakers fleeing the state to block new House maps likely to help Republicans gain five new seats during the midterms.
The over 50 Democratic state representatives who left the Lone Star State to protest the GOP’s mid-decade redistricting face $500 fines per member per day. In an interview with the Texas Tribune published on July 29 — days before the lawmakers began their protest — Crockett suggested that the problem of funding for these fines could be solved by the lawmakers accepting donations as “another salary” — adding that she is willing to tap into her nearly $4 million dollar war chest to help pay the bill.
Crockett added in the interview that the funding might not even be necessary, stating that “the first step would be to make sure that there are attorneys on deck to actually challenge the legality of these rules.”
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott published a press release Monday, calling for Texas Rangers to investigate “delinquent” Texas House Democrats fleeing the state. Specifically, the governor’s office ordered that the members be investigated “for potential bribery and any other potential legal violations connected to their refusal to appear for a quorum, conduct business, and cast votes.”
In a Tuesday video, Crockett appeared to call Abbott’s bluff stating that he “talks a lot of noise.”
“These guys are weak,” she continued, referring to Texas Republicans, who on Monday passed a motion in the state House to issue arrest warrants for the absentee Democratic lawmakers.
“They expect us [Democrats] to take the punch and say, ‘Thank you.’ Well, I am here to tell you that not only are we [Democrats] going to punch back but we about to beat you down,” Crockett added, later referring to the lawmakers who left the state to break quorum as “heroes.”
Crockett was notably one of dozens of Texas House Representatives who broke quorum and fled to Washington, D.C., in 2021 over a bill seeking to require voter ID for mail-in ballots, which Abbott eventually signed into law. Texas Republicans that year had similarly issued arrest warrants for Crockett and the other Democrats who left the state.
The congresswoman posted to Instagram on Monday that she had framed her 2021 arrest warrant and placed it in her office. She mentioned her framed warrant in the video as purported evidence that Abbott’s calls amount to “noise.”
A left-wing firebrand known for making controversial remarks, Crockett had denounced the Republican-proposed map, which draws her home out of her district, as “a power grab to silence voters.”
The press release from Abbott’s office also stated that reports “indicate that many absentee Texas House Democrats have solicited or received funds to evade conducting legislative business and casting votes.” While Texas law dictates that “those Democrats who solicit, accept, or agree to accept such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws,” according to the press release, it also could signal “bribery violation for for any other person who offers, provides, or agrees to provide such funds to fleeing Democrat House members.”
Texas law prevents the Democratic lawmakers from using their campaign money to pay fines. However, anonymous sources close to “Democratic fundraising strategy sessions” told the Tribune that “their legal teams have found a way to disburse the funds to members, but declined to provide any additional details.”
Similarly, according to anonymous sources cited in the Tribune’s July 29 report, multiple members of Congress, including Democratic Texas Rep. Greg Casar, have on private calls with donors called for a “high-stakes Democratic resistance” to the GOP-led redistricting. The new GOP-proposed map will redraw Casar’s 35th congressional district to be solidly Republican, potentially forcing the leftist lawmaker to run against Democratic Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett in a district that mostly consists of Doggett’s old territory.
On Tuesday, Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn requested federal help in arresting the Texas legislators breaking quorum. His challenger in the upcoming Republican primary for the 2026 midterm election, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has also been a vocal supporter of the decision to arrest the quorum-busting representatives, and released a court order Tuesday to declare the representatives’ seats “vacant.”
On Thursday, CNN’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, said that Texas redistricting could make a “huge difference” for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, with Republicans potentially retaining control of the House of Representatives.
Spokespersons for Crockett’s and Casar’s offices did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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