Texas Sen. John Cornyn said the FBI has approved his request for assistance in locating the Texas Democrats who fled the state on Sunday to block a vote on redistricting.
“I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats,” Cornyn said in a statement, thanking President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel for their swift support.
This means federal resources could very well be deployed in pursuit of a partisan redistricting effort that would give Republicans five additional seats in their favor.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (who is attempting to unseat Cornyn) have both deployed state resources to bring the members back.
Trump said on Tuesday that the FBI “may have to” get involved.
“I mean, the governor of Texas is demanding they come back. So, a lot of people are demanding they come back. You can’t just sit it out, you have to go back, you have to fight it out,” Trump said. “That’s what elections are all about.”
Dozens of Democrats in the Texas state Legislature fled over the weekend to states like New York, Illinois and Massachusetts. The FBI’s involvement could lead to a standoff between state and local law enforcement — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has already pledged to protect the lawmakers from action.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that — ’cause we know they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law,” Pritzker said in a press conference Sunday night.
On Monday, the Republicans in the Texas state Legislature voted to issue civil arrest warrants for the lawmakers. Shortly thereafter, Abbott deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety to “locate, arrest, and return the members.”
The Democrats have abandoned the Texas state Legislature for multiple days in an attempt to stall a vote on a redistricting plan that would make it harder for some Texas congressional Democrats to be reelected.
Abbott has also said they could potentially be charged with felonies.