Why dozens of Democrats left Texas and how Republicans are trying to punish them

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A walkout by Texas House Democrats is stalling redrawn political maps that President Donald Trump wants before the 2026 elections to bolster Republican chances of keeping its U.S. House majority.

Since leaving the state on Aug. 3 to block a vote in the Texas Capitol, dozens of Democrats have scattered to Chicago, New York and Boston and faced escalating threats from Republicans who have signed civil arrest warrants and mobilized state troopers.

Trump said Tuesday the FBI “may have to" help to bring back Texas Democrats, who have not said how long they are prepared to hold out. But they've signaled no intention of quickly returning home.

Here are some things to know:

Trump wants to redraw the Texas congressional map in hopes of adding five more GOP seats in Texas in the midterm elections to boost his party's chance of preserving its slim U.S. House majority. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats.

As the minority party in the state House and Senate, Democrats simply do not have the votes to stop the plan under normal legislative procedures. The maps were passed by a committee last week and swiftly scheduled for a floor vote.

Sizing up their limited power and options, Democrats chose to deny the quorum as their only chance to put the brakes on Trump's plan and to rally national support.

Many went to Illinois and New York.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has welcomed Democrats in Chicago. Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender who has been one of Trump’s most outspoken critics during the president's second term, had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about offering support if they chose to leave the state.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has hosted Texas Democrats in Albany, said the fight over congressional lines in Texas has implications nationally.

Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said his state would move forward with partisan redistricting if Texas proceeds. California Democrats are considering redrawing the state's congressional map to carve out five districts and give the party 48 out of its 52 seats.

The governor said he would do this by calling a November special election to get approval from voters to circumvent the state's independent commission responsible for redistricting.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the state Supreme Court, which is entirely controlled by GOP justices, to remove the Democratic House leader from office through an untested legal argument that the absent legislators have effectively forfeited their seats. Democrats blasted the lawsuit and the court has not ruled.

A lawmaker refusing to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules, and they can be fined $500 for every day they aren't at the Capitol. In 2021, the Texas Supreme Court held that House leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of missing members but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served that year in a similar quorum break.

Texas Democrats have fled the state before in attempts to thwart the Republican majority.

They twice denied the GOP a quorum in 2003 to stop Republican efforts to redraw voting maps, at one point leaving for Oklahoma and later for New Mexico. In 2021, Democrats left the state in the final days of the session over an elections bill and new voting restrictions. They stayed away for 38 days.

Both efforts only delayed the Republican-led measures that were ultimately passed once Democrats eventually returned to Austin.

And while the current special session ends Aug. 20, Abbott has the authority to keep calling lawmakers back to the Capitol for 30-day special sessions to pass the redistricting bill and any other item he believes should be addressed.

The current special session agenda includes help for communities devastated by the the July Fourth floods that killed at least 136 people. As part of their walkout, Texas Democrats have accused Republicans of prioritizing the politics of redistricting over flood victims.

Abbott has defended the redistricting plan as an effort to redraw lines to better reflect voters who supported Trump in the 2024 election, when he easily won Texas. He said there was nothing illegal about drawing lines on the basis of political makeup.

“All of these districts that are being added are districts that were won by Trump," he said in an interview with Fox News.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Washington; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; and Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu along with other members of the Texas House are joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as they speak about Texas Republican plans to redraw the House map office during a press conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Black)

A map of U.S Congressional Districts proposed plan is seen at a Texas legislators' public hearing on congressional redistricting in Austin, Texas, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu along with other members of the Texas House are joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as they speak about Texas Republican plans to redraw the House map office during a press conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Black)

Texas Rep. Gene Wu speaks during a news conference in Aurora, Ill., on Tuesday, Aug 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Texas State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Haskins speaks during a news conference in Aurora, Ill., on Tuesday, Aug 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Texas House Rep. Joe Moody, D - El Paso, stands at the back of the House Chambers with empty chairs belonging to House Democrats protesting a redistricting map at the State Capitol, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu along with other members of the Texas House are joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as they speak about Texas Republican plans to redraw the House map office during a press conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Black)

A map of U.S Congressional Districts proposed plan is seen at a Texas legislators' public hearing on congressional redistricting in Austin, Texas, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu along with other members of the Texas House are joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as they speak about Texas Republican plans to redraw the House map office during a press conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Black)

BERLIN (AP) — The eight European countries targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump for a 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland blasted the move Sunday, warning that the American leader's threats “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”

In an unusual and very strong joint statement coming from major U.S. allies, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland on Sunday said troops sent to Greenland for the Danish military training exercise “Arctic Endurance” pose “no threat to anyone.”

Trump's Saturday announcement sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security.

“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland," the group said. “Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”

There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from the divisions between the U.S. and Europe. She added in a post on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity."

Trump's move was also panned domestically.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on U.S. allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”

“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media. “The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”

Six of the countries targeted are part of the 27-member EU, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariffs would impact the entire bloc. EU envoys scheduled emergency talks for Sunday evening to determine a potential response.

The tariff announcement even drew blowback from Trump's populist allies in Europe.

Italy’s right-wing premier, Giorgia Meloni, considered one of Trump’s closest allies on the continent, said Sunday she had spoken to him about the tariffs, which she described as “a mistake.”

The deployment to Greenland of small numbers of troops by some European countries was misunderstood by Washington, Meloni told reporters. She said the deployment was not a move against the U.S. but aimed to provide security against “other actors” that she didn’t name.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media that “no intimidation or threats will influence us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere else in the world when we are faced with such situations." He added that "tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.”

Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in France and also a European Parliament lawmaker, posted that the EU should suspend last year’s tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump’s threats as “commercial blackmail.”

Trump also achieved the rare feat of uniting Britain’s main political parties — including the hard-right Reform UK party — all of whom criticized the tariff threat.

“We don’t always agree with the U.S. government and in this case we certainly don’t. These tariffs will hurt us,” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a longtime champion and ally of Trump, wrote on social media. He stopped short of criticizing Trump's designs on Greenland.

Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who leads the center-left Labour Party, said the tariffs announcement was “completely wrong” and his government would “be pursuing this directly with the U.S. administration.”

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Norway are also expected to address the crisis Sunday in Oslo during a news conference.

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Leicester reported from Paris and Cook from Brussels. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

A crowd walks to the US consulate to protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A boy holds a crossed out map of Greenland topped by a hairpiece symbolizing U.S. President Donald Trump, during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)