Dozens of Democratic legislators from Texas fled the state this Sunday to prevent the vote on a new electoral map that would heavily favor Republicans in the U.S. Congress.

In response, Republican lawmakers voted Monday to issue civil arrest warrants for absentees.

Shortly after, Governor Greg Abbott, also a Republican, asked the Department of Public Safety to detain the Democrats and return them to Texas, and threatened to file bribery charges against them.

The redistricting proposal, introduced by the Republican majority in the Texas legislature last week with the backing of President Donald Trump, would create five conservative-leaning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Republican Party currently enjoys a slim majority in Congress American.

Two-thirds of the 150-member state legislature must be present to vote on the new electoral map.

However, 51 Democratic lawmakers fled Texas, most of them to Illinois, depriving Republicans of the necessary quorum.

Tension in Texas

In Texas and some other states, state legislatures have the power to redraw the electoral map used in US Congressional elections.

The Democrats who fled Texas said they plan to be absent for two weeks until the end of a special legislative session.

That session was called by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who, after several threats, ordered the arrest of lawmakers participating in the boycott.

In a statement, Abbott said the Texas Department of Public Safety will locate, arrest, and return to the House of Representatives any of its members who have abandoned their duty.

The order, according to the statement, will remain in effect until all absent Democrats in the legislature are identified and returned.

According to the Washington Post, it will not be easy for Texas authorities to arrest the Democrats, since most are outside the jurisdiction of Texas authorities.

Shortly before, Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives approved a motion to issue civil arrest warrants for their Democratic colleagues.

In addition to electoral redistricting, the Texas legislative session has the provision of aid on its agenda following last month's deadly floods in the state and the ban on THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

Each of the 51 absent lawmakers could face a $500 fine for each day they are absent, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, has threatened to have them arrested.

Paxton wrote in X that the state must use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who believe they are above the law.

Texas House Democrats who attempt to flee like cowards must be located, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately, he added.

For his part, Abbott has threatened to file bribery charges against his fleeing rivals.

Reports indicate that these legislators have solicited and offered money to skip the vote, to leave the legislature, or to take legislative action. That would be bribery,” he said.

He also sent a letter to Democrats asking them to return to Texas for the chamber’s meeting Monday afternoon.

What options do Democrats have?

In a statement, Texas Democrats defended the measure.

“We will not shirk our responsibilities,” said Gene Wu, a state legislator and chairman of the Democratic caucus.

He added: “We are abandoning a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people at that we represent.”

“We’ll do whatever it takes. We don’t know how that’s going to play out,” he said.

State Democrats received endorsements from national party figures. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the group was showing “courage, conviction, and character.”

While Democrats across the country have threatened countermeasures similar to the one taken by Republicans in Texas, their options may be limited.

In states where they manage the redistricting process, such as Illinois, New Mexico, and Nevada, Democrats have already gerrymandered districts in ways similar to Republicans.

Illinois' most recent map, for example, was rated politically unfair by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, which gave it an F (its lowest).

In other Democratic-controlled states, including New York, California, Colorado, and Washington, redistricting is done by independent, nonpartisan commissions rather than by state legislatures.

Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 House seats.

They hope the new maps could increase that number to 30, all in districts Trump won last November by at least 10 points.

The Importance of 5 Seats

With the national midterm elections next year approaching, redistricting in Texas could help bolster the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress.

Trump's party currently holds 219 of the 435 House seats, while Democrats hold 212.

The new map would include a redistricting of the Rio Grande Valley and combine two districts in Austin, the state capital, currently held by Democrats.

In North Texas, the map would expand a district currently held by the Democratic Congresswoman Julie Johnson to include rural Republican strongholds.

It would also redraw four Houston-area seats, including one held by Democratic Congressman Al Green.

Texas state Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican sponsoring the redraw measure, called it a “good plan for Texas.”

It marks the third time in recent years that Democrats have fled Texas to deny Republicans a quorum.

Democrats lawmakers left for Washington, D.C., in 2021 in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to block passage of new election rules.

They also left for Oklahoma in 2003 in an attempt to stop a redistricting measure that Republicans eventually passed.

States in the US typically redistrict every 10 years, when electoral maps are redrawn to account for population shifts reflected in the census.

The most recent census was conducted in 2020, and redrawing district lines in the middle of a decade is unusual.