Democrats fled Texas... redistricting. They could also sink an anti-trans bill

[Jessica_Rose]

Democrats fled Texas to stop Republican redistricting. They could also sink an anti-trans bill.


https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/08/democrats-fled-texas-to-stop-republican-redistricting-they-could-also-sink-an-anti-trans-bill/

Greg Owen (5 Aug 2025)

On Sunday, Texas Democrats denied House Republicans a quorum to approve a new Congressional map redrawn to add GOP seats to the slim majority Republicans hold in the U.S. House of Representatives.

They did it by fleeing the state.

On Monday, Texas Senate Republicans passed a draconian new anti-trans "bathroom bill" through committee that provides a rigid penalty system for any facility that does not comply. A first offense would trigger a $5,000 fine, while subsequent violations would earn $25,000 fines for each infraction, the Dallas Observer reports.

Sponsors added S.B. 7 to the special session agenda at the request of Abbott, who called the discriminatory legislation a priority.

If Democrats remain out of state for the next two weeks, the quorum break-up would last through the session's expiration.

Out state Sen. Venton Jones (D), who made news earlier this year when he proposed to his boyfriend on the Texas House floor, urged the public to testify against the bill regardless of its poor prospects in the Democrats' absence, as he stood on a tarmac about to leave the state.

"Texas, it's time to stand up against harmful legislation targeting the LGBTQ community," Jones posted to Instagram. S.B. 7 "aims to erase transgender, non-binary, and intersex Texans from public life spaces. We encourage Texans to show up and testify against this bill..."