Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation Wednesday into a group led by Democrat Beto O’Rourke that is bankrolling dozens of Democrats who fled the Lone Star State to block a vote on new congressional maps.
Paxton said that O’Rourke’s group, Powered by People, might have violated laws on bribery, campaign finance, and abuse of office. Powered by People is funding a group of 50 state Democrats who are each facing a $500 daily fine after fleeing to Illinois, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“Any Democrat coward breaking the law by taking a Beto Bribe will be held accountable,” Paxton said. “Texas cannot be bought. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all of the documents and communications obtained throughout this investigation. These jet-setting runaways have already lost public trust by abandoning our state, and Texans deserve to know if they received illegal bribes to do it.”
BREAKING: I just launched an investigation into Beto O’Rourke’s radical group for unlawfully funding runaway Democrats.
Any Democrat coward breaking the law by taking a Beto Bribe will be held accountable. pic.twitter.com/PV2IdwNOBd
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 6, 2025
O’Rourke — who ran failed presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial campaigns — shot back at Paxton’s investigation, writing on X, “The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five Congressional seats.”
Paxton was impeached by the Texas state House in 2023 on bribery charges, but he was later acquitted by the state Senate. The Texas attorney general is now challenging incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn in the 2026 U.S. Senate race.
Powered by People focuses on organizing volunteers to help Democrats win elections in “competitive Texas battleground districts.” The leftist group says it is also “focused on creating long-term changes to the Texas electorate that will outlast any one candidate or campaign cycle.”
Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows set a Friday deadline for the Democrats to return to the legislature, but the 50 representatives are hoping to keep their stunt going and are pleading for donations as they remain in Illinois, the Associated Press reported. The House Democratic Caucus set up a website for donations of up to $2,500.
“We’re getting a lot of small-dollar donations, and that’s going to be used to help keep this thing going,” said Democrat House Caucus Chair Gene Wu.
“We’ve already been inundated with donations from across the state of Texas, from across the country, just regular people donating $5, $10, $15,” Democratic state Rep. James Talarico said. “And that’s appropriate, because this fight is for the people and it should be funded by the people. We don’t have billionaires who are funding this operation.”
Earlier this week, Paxton said he would seek judicial orders to remove the AWOL Democrats from office over their “refusal to perform legislative duties.” Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has also pushed to remove Wu from office over the state representative’s refusal to show up for the redistricting vote and reach quorum.
Sen. Cornyn has also asked the FBI to help round up the Democrats and bring them back to the state. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the bureau “may have to” get involved.
