Texas House Democrats slammed the Trump administration involving the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the fight over redistricting in the state.
Some Texas Democrats left the state on Sunday to deny the state House quorum to push through a rare mid-decade redistricting plan ahead of the 2026 midterms. The plan aims to boost the GOP’s odds of maintaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives after the midterms by creating five new Republican districts.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Thursday the FBI had approved his request to have the agency help law enforcement agencies track down the Democrats who left.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) also said the FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety were “tracking down” the lawmakers.
Texas Democrats fired back, saying the move is straight from the authoritarian playbook.
“The Texas Governor has threatened our elected office. The Texas Attorney General has called for us to be ‘hunted down.’ And now, the FBI Director — handpicked by Donald Trump — appears to be doing just that,” state Rep. John Bucy III (D) in a statement.
“Let’s be clear: using federal law enforcement to track down political opposition is the tactic of a collapsing regime,” he continued. “It’s the kind of authoritarian overreach we condemn in other countries. Now, it’s happening here.”
State Rep. Ann Johnson (D) called it an “authoritarian tactic.”
“I will not be intimidated into silence by politicians who are trying to rig our democracy to cling to power,” she said. “If standing in the way of authoritarianism makes me a target, so be it. I’d rather be chased for doing what’s right than complicit in what’s wrong.”
