El Paso state Rep. Joe Moody, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives, is not joining his party’s walkout that is an effort to torpedo a Republican congressional redistricting plan, he told El Paso Matters.
“I support my fellow Democrats who’ve left the state to protect our votes. But there are many battles on many fronts in a war,” said Moody, who was appointed speaker pro tem earlier this year by Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows. “The best way I can fight back is at the Capitol, which is why I’ve chosen to stay now that quorum has been broken. I’ll be looking my Republican colleagues in the eyes and asking them to look into their souls: They know this is wrong.”
El Paso Rep. Vince Perez flew to Chicago on Sunday, where most Texas House Democrats have gathered in their effort to block action on redistricting by denying the quorum necessary to do business. More than 51 Democrats are participating in the quorum break, meaning the House can’t take up any action, including redistricting, in the ongoing special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Rep. Claudia Ordaz told El Paso Matters she would not be in Austin this week because of a personal matter. She hasn’t said whether she eventually plans to join the quorum break.
El Paso Rep. Mary González hasn’t responded to requests for comment from El Paso Matters about her plans during the quorum break.
Abbott accused the Democrats of “an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office,” and threatened to begin a process to strip them of their office and potentially bring felony charges.
The governor put congressional redistricting on the agenda for the special session that began July 21 at the request of President Donald Trump, who asked Texas Republicans to draft a new congressional map that would add up to five new GOP seats in the state’s 38-member delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans currently control 25 of the seats.
The House Redistricting Committee voted 12-6 along partisan lines Friday to approve a redistricting plan, and the full House was expected to vote as soon as Monday before the Democrats announced their walkout Sunday.
Moody, the only El Pasoan on the House Redistricting Committee, said the plan was designed to please Trump – who he called the “felon in chief” – and strip power from Black and Hispanic Texans.
“I fought these corrupt maps in committee and will continue fighting them every chance I get. Republicans aren’t even hiding it — they’ve admitted these maps are meant to silence voices and votes,” he said in a statement to El Paso Matters. “Trump is destroying our economy, our communities, and our way of life to serve himself, so he knows he’ll lose Congress if he doesn’t cheat. And now the governor is threatening to arrest and remove elected representatives who are using legal, legitimate ways to stand against that.
“All of that is the playbook of dictators, not American leaders. And they confirm that we’re at war for our democracy.”
Moody participated in a 2023 walkout by Democrats that attempted to block election reforms proposed by Republicans. That effort was ultimately unsuccessful and Moody was stripped of his speaker pro tem position by then-Speaker Dade Phelan. Moody said that action had no bearing on his decision to stay at the Capitol for the current redistricting fight.
Perez, who is serving his first term in the House, called the redistricting plan “the most racially engineered map Texas has seen since the end of the Civil War.”
“I could not, in good conscience, stand idly by while Donald Trump and Texas Republicans push a redistricting plan that gives white Texans three times more voting power than Hispanic Texans – including the majority of my constituents in El Paso,” he said.
In a social media post Sunday, House Speaker Burrows said the chamber would convene as planned Monday.
Burrows didn’t elaborate, but in a statement Sunday, Abbott threatened legal action against the absent Democratic House members.
“In addition to abandoning their offices, these legislators may also have committed felonies. Many absentee Democrats are soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules. Any Democrat who “solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept” such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws,” the statement said.
Moody blasted Abbott’s threats.
“As for the governor’s threats, while Trump is trying to steal a future election with his maps, our governor wants to steal elections that already happened last year! It’s not just immoral – it’s illegal. He can’t declare vacancies, absolutely can’t fill them, and no honest person could claim a legislative tactic long used by both sides is a crime. It’s disgusting, fascist nonsense,” he said.
The redistricting plan doesn’t significantly alter the partisan balance of El Paso’s two House seats, currently represented by Democrat Veronica Escobar and Republican Tony Gonzales. But the plan would shift key economic engines – including Fort Bliss and El Paso International Airport – from Escobar’s 16th Congressional District to Gonzales’ 23rd District.
Texas Democrats have previously used quorum breaks to block Republican efforts related to elections, most recently in 2021. But Democratic lawmakers eventually returned and Republicans passed their plans.
The post El Paso’s Joe Moody staying at Capitol, not joining other House Democrats in fleeing state to block GOP redistricting plan appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More