Texas state lawmakers plan to break quorum, derailing a Republican-led attempt to redraw the state’s voting districts, because they do not have the votes to win by legitimate means.

Politico reported on Sunday that Texas Democrats planned to flee — by the dozens — in order to put a stop to the legislative process that would likely result in Republicans gaining as many as five GOP-leaning seats in the already traditionally red state.

“The choice was clear: Stand by while Abbott silences millions of Black and Latino voters, or use every tool available to stop this assault on our democracy. This corrupt special session is over,” the Texas Democrats declared in a statement.

The choice was clear:
Stand by while Abbott silences millions of Black and Latino voters, or use every tool available to stop this assault on our democracy.

This corrupt special session is over.#txlege pic.twitter.com/zjs2Qz4nku

— Texas House Democrats (@TexasHDC) August 3, 2025

The full statement read:

For two weeks, while families in the Hill Country mourned the loss of over 130 Texans in catastrophic floods, Texas Democrats fought to make their relief the legislature’s top priority. Instead, Governor Abbott and Republican leadership used the tragedy as political cover.

After thousands of Texans testified against this corrupt bargain in hearings across the state, their pleas were ignored.

“Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. We will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander. As of today, this corrupt special session is over.”

Objecting to what they claim is an effort to “gerrymander” the districts in favor of Republicans, the Democrats plan to run away to a state where lawmakers wrote the book on partisan gerrymandering: Illinois.

Texas Democrats fleeing to Illinois — home to one of America’s most brutal partisan gerrymanders — is not the win they think it is pic.twitter.com/Pbf9RZZFM3

— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) August 3, 2025

Democrats attempted the same stunt in 2021 over an election bill, which passed along party lines in their absence but then could not proceed until they returned to the state 38 days later and they were able to achieve a quorum.

Governor Greg Abbott threatened to take action against the lawmakers who went AWOL in 2021 instead of doing their jobs, saying at one point that he would veto the section of the state constitution that ensured their pay.

I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature.

Article 10 funds the legislative branch.

No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities.

Stay tuned.

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 31, 2021

“Once they step back into the state, they will be arrested and brought back to the Capitol and we will be conducting business,” Abbott told Fox News host Laura Ingraham at the time, saying that if the legislators returned to the state, he would dispatch law enforcement in order to force a quorum.

Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison has called on Abbott to take the same stance as Democrats attempt to employ the same strategy once again.

🚨DEMOCRATS FLEE TEXAS TO BREAK QUORUM.

I am calling on Speaker Burrows to IMMEDIATELY issue a Call of the House and have them ARRESTED.

This was 100% preventable, and is yet another failure of Austin Republican “leadership.” pic.twitter.com/QwQ6EVeMi9

— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) August 3, 2025

Ken Kober, the president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), slammed elected city leaders over allegations many have made against the victims of a mob attack on July 26.

After several people were beaten by a mob of largely black people in Cincinnati, city officials, including the vice mayor of the city, have accused the victims of the attack of instigating the violence.

“I speak to our investigators probably every 12 hours, and there has been absolutely zero evidence so far that has suggested that these victims caused this,” Kober told The Daily Wire on Friday. “I mean, they’ve looked at video evidence, they’ve done interviews, and nothing suggests that these victims were the ones that started this mob attack.”

After videos of the mob attack began circulating online, Cincinnati city council President Pro Tem Victoria Parks wrote a Facebook comment saying the victims “begged for that beat down! I am grateful for the whole story.”

While Parks, who has said she is not running for reelection, received condemnation for the statement, some officials appeared to agree at least partly with Parks that the victims may have instigated the beating.

“Let us be clear. We do not condone violence. We condemn the violent actions of the instigator(s) of the fight as well as the violent actions of those who responded to the provocation,” Vice Mayor Jan Michele Kearney said in a statement. “Opportunists are trying to use this incident as a way to divide us – racially and politically – and cast our great City in a false and negative light. Every city has challenges, and we confront our challenges head on.”

Kober attributed the public attacks on the victims to election-year pandering.

“I think a lot of it is pandering to their constituents, and they do it in the face of what the investigation says. These investigators have met with city officials, explained to them, ‘Here’s the evidence that we have.’ And they just snub their nose at that,” Kober said. “Quite honestly, it’s pretty disgusting.”

While some city officials have taken to blaming the “instigators” for the mob attack, the city has suffered in recent years under worsening crime rates while the city’s police force has operated understaffed by roughly 20%. GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio ripped into Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval last week over the mayor’s response to the attack while ignoring the systemic issues plaguing the city.

“No apology, no atonement, no atonement for the fact that under the mayor’s leadership, we’re down anywhere between 110 to 300 police officers. There’s no atonement for the fact that when police do arrest criminals, the judges and prosecutors basically give them a slap on the wrist and send them on their way,” Moreno said on Fox News. “The police are doing the best they can in Cincinnati. They’re the heroes every day. But nice words don’t mean anything unless you have actual actions. This is way too little response.”

Progressive judges in the city have allowed criminals to walk free on small bonds in recent years, according to Kober. One of the men arrested in connection with the Cincinnati mob attack had been out of custody for just weeks after posting $400 for bond in a case in which he was arrested on felony weapons and stolen property charges.

“These judges, some of them, and it’s probably half, are horrible,” Kober said.

Despite the comments from city officials, Kober heaped praise on the officers investigating the mob attack.

“Despite what council members are saying, despite what the mayor is or is not saying, despite what the [police] chief’s saying, [the police investigators] have done an absolutely phenomenal job, and it’s a testament to the men and women that work in this police department, because without the boots on the ground and those guys doing the work that they do and the girls that do the work that they do, this place would be a disaster,” Kober said.