Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked the FBI Tuesday for help locating, arresting and investigating dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the Lone Star State in an effort to stall a Republican-led redistricting effort.
Cornyn, who is facing a primary challenge for his Senate seat from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, made the request in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, where he described the 57 absentee Democrats – some of whom appear to be holed up in Illinois and New York – as “potential lawbreakers.”
“Since these state legislators are currently outside of Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety may need support to arrest the fleeing lawmakers,” the senator wrote.
“I request the FBI’s assistance, as federal resources are necessary to locate the out-of-state Texas legislators who are potentially acting in violation of the law,” Cornyn continued. “The FBI has tools to aid state law enforcement when parties cross state lines, including to avoid testifying or fleeing a scene of a crime.”
“Specifically, I am concerned that legislators who solicited or accepted funds to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties may be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses,” he added.
Cornyn noted that his request is “time-sensitive” as the Texas Legislature only has about two weeks remaining in its special session to consider flood-relief bills and the redrawing of state congressional maps.
The FBI declined to comment.
By absconding from the state capitol, the missing Democratic lawmakers have prevented the GOP-controlled legislature from establishing the quorum necessary to consider the bills.
Cornyn’s request comes after Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state authorities on Monday to “arrest” the “delinquent Texas House Democrats” and bring them back to Austin so the special session can continue.
Abbott also directed the Texas Rangers to “immediately investigate fleeing Texas House Democrats for potential bribery and any other potential legal violations connected to their refusal to appear for a quorum, conduct business, and cast votes.”
The governor indicated the investigations would extend to “anyone who aided or abetted such potential crimes.”
“As we’re talking right now, Texas Department of Public Safety officers are on the streets looking for those Democrat House members to arrest them and to take them to the Texas capitol and hold them there until a quorum is reached,” Abbott said in an interview with Fox News host Will Cain on Tuesday.
Abbott noted that it’s unclear how many of the Democratic lawmakers remain out-of-state but that authorities are “working with officials in other states to find ways in which we can try to arrest” them and “bring them back to the state of Texas.”
The governor also said he’ll seek to remove Democratic House members for the legislature who received financial assistance to leave the state.
“Democrats don’t seem to know that taking or receiving a payment like they have to escape or not take a vote subjects them to forfeiture of their seat,” Abbott said on “The Will Cain Show.”
“It’s going to be one of the legal grounds you’re going to see asserted here immediately to seek the vacation or elimination or abandonment of these House seats by the Democrats,” he added. “So we will remove them from office and call for elections to replace them.”
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Paxton have set a Friday deadline for the runaway Democrats to appear at the capitol before “judicial orders” are sought declaring that they have “vacated their office.”
“The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines,” Paxton wrote on X. “If you don’t show up to work, you get fired.”
The deadline was issued after the Texas House again failed to reach a quorum on Thursday afternoon.
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