Tag Archives: Greg Abbott

Austin’s NBC affiliate reports: On Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins publicly addressed plans to fight against the New World screwworm, which has disrupted the livestock and cattle industries. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New World screwworms is an invasive species that burrows fly larvae into fresh wounds of living animals like …

Politico reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott immediately called another special session to pass a new congressional map, after the first attempt failed due to Texas Democrats leaving the state to deny Republicans the ability to carve out additional GOP seats. When Speaker Dustin Burrows gaveled into the second special session, which began just two hours after the first one wrapped, …

“Listen, all those big blue states, they’ve already gerrymandered. Look at the map of Illinois. Look at the map of California, New York and Massachusetts, and so many other blue states they gerrymandered a long time ago. They got nothing left with regard to what they can do. And know this: If California tries to gerrymander five more districts, listen, …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows tried to gather a quorum when he convened the House at 1 p.m. Friday – but with more than 50 Democrats nowhere near the Capitol, it didn’t happen. That marks Day 5 of dead air in the chamber, which lacks enough members on the House floor to hold a vote …

NBC News reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to call “special session after special session after special session” in response to Democratic lawmakers who have fled the state to block redistricting legislation, saying they’ll have to stay out of Texas for years to prevent it becoming law. “We are in the process as we speak right now of searching for, …

The Hill reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said on Thursday that the FBI is “tracking down” Democratic state lawmakers who fled the Lone Star State as the GOP looks to return them to the state Capitol. “Texas DPS and the FBI are tracking down the derelict Democrats. They will be taken directly to the Texas Capitol,” Abbott wrote on …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: Some states have tried to hand redistricting to an ostensibly independent commission. Yet then it’s a partisan proxy battle, and commissions that are evenly split can end up deadlocked. Commissions can also tilt one way or another with a gerrymander-like result: See California, with 43 Democratic seats out of 52; or New Jersey, …

Just in via press release: Governor Greg Abbott today filed an emergency petition in the Supreme Court of Texas seeking to remove from office Texas State Representative Gene Wu, the ringleader of the derelict Democrats who fled the state to break quorum. “I made clear in a formal statement on Sunday, August 3, that if the Texas House Democrats were …

“Democrats are freaking out because they are realizing Texas has the authority to redistrict, and we’re going to do so in a way that’s going to lead to these additional seats that will vote Republican, and they will be serving in Congress in the next session. And so Democrats are freaking out about it, engaging in rhetoric, but I don’t …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas House voted Monday afternoon to track down and arrest more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who were not present when the chamber gaveled in. After the 85-6 vote, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said he would immediately sign civil warrants for each of the legislators, empowering the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms and state troopers to arrest and bring …

The Associated Press reports: Texas Democrats on Monday successfully prevented their state’s House of Representatives from moving forward with a redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up Republicans’ 2026 midterm prospects as his political standing falters. After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to …

Politico reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doubled down on his promise to expel Texas Democrats from the legislature if they do not return to the state for its ongoing special session, where Republicans are working to push through a new congressional map that gives the GOP five more favorable seats ahead of the midterms. “These Democrats have absconded from their …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott informed Texas House Democrats late Sunday that he would attempt to have them removed from office if they do not return to Austin to pass the GOP’s proposed new congressional maps.  The Republican governor’s late-night missive came after more than 50 Democrats left the state Sunday afternoon so the Texas House would not …

The Texas Tribune reports: As Republicans in Texas move full steam ahead with a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, Democrats are privately mulling their options, including an expensive and legally dicey quorum break. If they go that route, it appears they will have the backing of big-dollar Democratic donors. By fleeing the state to deprive the Legislature of …

The Texas Tribune reports: Two years after a district court declared that a new state law diluting the policy-making power of blue urban areas was unconstitutional, an appeals court on Friday overruled that decision. Texas lawmakers in 2023 passed House Bill 2127, dubbed the “Death Star” bill by opponents, which aims to overturn cities’ progressive policies and prevent them from enacting …

The Washington Post reports: Today kicks off what will probably be a particularly contentious and closely watched special session of the Texas legislature. Republicans want to redraw the state’s congressional districts to create new Republican seats — five more, if President Donald Trump gets his way. Democrats at the national level say they won’t sit out this fight. The Democratic …

The Texas Tribune reports: More than two weeks after catastrophic July Fourth floods along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, authorities reported Saturday that nearly all of the people who had remained on the list of missing persons have been verified as safe. As recently as Monday, rescuers were still trying to find an estimated 101 people. But by Saturday, …

Politico reports: Trump wants lawmakers in Texas to redraw the state’s congressional district map to give Republicans five more House seats, he told reporters Tuesday. “There could be some other states we’re going to get another three, or four or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one.” he said. “Just a simple redrawing we pick up five seats.” …

ProPublica reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn’t want to reveal months of communications with Elon Musk or representatives from the tech mogul’s companies, arguing in part that they are of a private nature, not of public interest and potentially embarrassing. Musk had an eventful legislative session in Texas this year. In addition to his lobbyists successfully advocating for several new …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday unveiled a jam-packed agenda for the upcoming special legislative session, calling on legislators to redraw the state’s congressional maps and address several unfinished conservative priorities from earlier this year. The call includes legislation to redraw the state’s congressional districts — which the Trump administration has reportedly been pressuring state GOP leaders …