Texas House Democrats who staged a walkout in August over a new congressional map gerrymandered in favor of Republicans will be charged over $8,000 apiece in penalties, a GOP-led panel decided Friday.
Democrats avoided the Capitol for two weeks in August to protest the new congressional map that Texas Republicans redrew, at the request of President Donald Trump, to hand the GOP up to five additional seats in this year’s midterms. Their absence meant the Texas House lacked the quorum necessary to conduct business, forcing the chamber to a halt. The Legislature approved the map after Democrats, many of whom decamped to Illinois and other states, returned to Austin.
