For weeks, the Texas House has been unable to make quorum, but that will likely change, according to one of the House Democrats who fled to Chicago.
HOUSTON — There’s growing belief that the Texas Legislature will make a quorum on Monday.
After nearly two weeks of walking out over the GOP-led redistricting effort, some House Democrats are planning to return.
Here in Houston on Saturday, State Rep. Ron Reynolds paid a brief visit to an event for Rep. Al Green, who faces the possibility of losing his district in a redrawn Congressional map.
For weeks, the Texas House has been unable to make a quorum, but that will likely change, according to one of the House Democrats who fled to Chicago.
“I think that there will be a quorum that will be made on Monday,” Reynolds said. “Well, there was a lot of people who are not as impacted as my constituents, we are not OK with this.”
Reynolds’ constituents are also in Green’s Congressional district.
For weeks, Texas House Democrats were bringing awareness to the proposed redistricting, which could potentially flip five seats to Republicans.
Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special session that began hours after the first special session ended.
“Texans stay and fight, in this case, you have a bunch of cowards who cut and run,” Abbott said he would call session after session if the Democrats did not return.
Reynolds and many other Democrats have acknowledged it is likely the redistricting bill will pass.
“We know that we don’t have the votes to stop what we call the racial gerrymandering, but we’re going to push, we’re going to fight. We’re going to make the record for the courts so our lawyers can take this to court,” Reynolds said.
He said their long-term solution is to propose an independent redistricting committee to avoid partisan politics.
Reynolds said he also plans on returning, but was undecided when that will happen. The Texas House needs 100 members to make a quorum.
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