Posted on 08/05/2025 5:29:27 AM PDT by DallasBiff
If you’re one of the millions of Texas residents living in a blue state House district, there’s a better-than-even-odds chance your state rep has fled the state. Even if you live in a red district, or really anywhere else in the country, those truancies could determine the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in Washington.
More than 30 Texas lawmakers are in Illinois. Another six are in New York. Massachusetts was a draw for others as their comrades gathered for an unrelated wonkfest. And a few are in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom first floated a plan that has become a national script for Democrats preparing to retaliate against Texas, where Republicans plan to further gerrymander the state’s U.S. House districts to improve their chances at maintaining the national balance of power in Washington.
In a striking reminder just how fragile politics can be, roughly 60 state lawmakers—each standing as proxy for just shy of 200,000 constituents—stand to potentially decide who will be the next House Speaker dictating policy for 345 million Americans. They split from their state on Sunday in what boosters have branded a “Texodus,” one day after a GOP-led panel in Austin moved forward with a partisan rewrite of the state’s district maps. And yet, despite serving as a rallying cry among Democrats nationally, this gambit by Texas Democrats is going to fail if history is to be a guide.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
I think they should have a point system like most places of employment. Say they have 10 points and if they go past that, they are fired. An unexcused absence is 1 point. A no-call-no-show is 2 points. When they hit 10 points the position is considered vacant and doesn’t count in any quorum calculation.
I wish I could leave TX in August and call it a business expense.
I haven’t seen that many Democrats run away since Gettysburg in 1863.
Texas Democrats Fled Their State. They’ve Done That Before. It Almost Always Works.
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They’ve done it before and got away with it.
They must have the book thrown at them all.
Why plan for failure. Simply change the rules: If out of State at the time of a session you have vacated your seat and a permanent appointment can be made by the governor.
I find it very interesting that among ‘news’ of this event, not a SINGLE story mentions what happened in Oregon recently. The time article only ‘mentions’ Oregon.
Legislation followed governing such actions, legislation with which I have major problems.
I hope that this time proper debate is applied to the hypocrites’ actions having fled Texas.
Don’t forget Nashville, Dec 1864 ...
They are nothing but fundraisers for the Democrats. They have no message about what they have done, so they are putting this crap out nationwide. The truth is, the Democrats have gerrymandered every Blue State and I doubt they could add many more. However, the SC is about to rule on race-based districts being unconstitutional, and if they rule they are, then everything will change for the Democrats.
like most places of employment.
/
With due respect, no point system, you walk off the job you’ve quit.
Most places consider walking off the job and not showing up for work at least 3 days is quiting.
Name 1 that doesn’t.
Politicians shouldn’t get a pass the rest of us don’t.
The Democowards always flee a battle.
I loved watching Al the Green Weenie crying and throwing a tantrum this morning on FOX. The boy must have forgotten his golden handled pimp cane. He wasn’t shaking it at anyone.
What if they walk off for one day?
Suppose they leave because their child was in a car accident.
Or to have a baby.
I agree with your sentiment but I think the critters should have the same protection as normal workers, not less or more. And the rules should be very clear.
I also think that when it comes to determining districts there should be some normal criteria that is followed so that gerrymandering can’t happen by either party - otherwise our whole system of representative government is just a fudge-fest. Say a computer “reads” the state like a page. Maybe a 50-mile north-to-south “line/font height” (or whatever makes sense) that moves west to east until it reaches the number of people needed for one legislative representative. When you hit the end of that “line” of the state you go to the next line and continue until you reach the number of people needed for a legislative representative. And so on. Or maybe there’s a better way, but the idea is that it is a set way of defining districts so that the gerrymandering doesn’t happen by either side.
What do you mean, it almost never works? It NEVER works to the advantage of the runaways, but to the ones who stay behind, when they can use the leverage.
But the will has to be there.
They do have normal excused absence rights, quite liberal.
But they openly filmed and bragged about leaving. So this is not that.
After a bit, the governor can declare the seats abandoned, leaving their constituents without representation for the rest of the term.
Give them a week, then fire them and get on with the work of actual democratic republic.
Corrupt mail-in voting, and direct democracy, via the initiative petition (which Texas does not have) are powerful tools in the hands of the left. It doesn’t take too many motivated voters to wreak havoc when voter registration is at 50%, and mid-term election turn-out is low.
Also if the census is used as the basis for calculating how many representatives a state gets, it should only be actual US citizens or maybe even eligible voters. Or maybe the census should have the numbers of all the people but divide it between US citizens, non-citizens, and eligible voters, and use either the US citizens or eligible voters categories to determine representation and the number of all people to determine other stuff.
This is just off-the-cuff; I haven’t taken the time to think it through. Who are the representatives supposed to represent anyway? Anybody who is allowed to have a say in the workings of the government? If so, wouldn’t that be eligible voters? We talk about “taxation without representation”, so would the people who have a say in government be those who pay taxes? I don’t have time to think it through right now but it’s an interesting question.
Do you suppose that would pass Supreme Court muster?
A significant number of Republicans have chosen to get in bed with the Democrats.
I know someone who nearly lost a job because of being sick. No show, no job. The person went back sick.
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