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SUMMARY: Texas edge rusher Ethan Burke, a senior and Westlake High graduate, is poised to increase his impact this season after recording nine tackles for loss, two sacks, and five pass breakups last year. Learning from teammate Barryn Sorrell helped Burke develop a strong work ethic and consistency. Playing opposite star pass rusher Colin Simmons, Burke and Simmons share strong on-field chemistry, aided by communication with linebackers and interior linemen. With a mostly returning defense and strong team camaraderie, Burke is confident in their cohesion. He also cherishes memorable moments like a key stop against Texas A\&M in last season’s Lone Star Showdown.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-08-03 19:03:00
Texas House Democrats fled to Chicago to block a redistricting bill scheduled for a Monday vote, preventing a quorum needed for legislative business. They claim the bill undermines Black and Latino voters and criticize Gov. Greg Abbott and Republicans for prioritizing redistricting over flood relief for Texas Hill Country victims. The new plan, prompted by DOJ concerns, would likely increase Republican seats by shifting district lines. Democrats seek to stall the legislation, echoing a 2021 walkout to block election reforms. House Speaker Dustin Burrows warned Democrats might face arrest for breaking quorum, while a possible second special session looms if they don’t return.
(The Center Square) – Texas House Democrats left Austin for Chicago on Sunday in an attempt to prevent the state House from voting Monday on a redistricting bill.
“As of today, this special session is over,” Democrats said in a statement.
The redistricting bill advanced out of committee on Saturday along party lines and was scheduled for a floor vote on Monday.
In order for the House to convene to conduct business, it must have a quorum – two-thirds of its members, 100, must be present. Even though Republicans hold a majority, they don’t have enough members to meet quorum on their own. The Texas House is comprised of 88 Republicans and 64 Democrats.
House Democrats argue the redistricting bill is illegal and have vowed to fight it.
“The choice was clear,” Texas House Democrats said. “Stand by while [Gov. Greg] 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.”
Within months of entering his second term, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sent a letter to Abbott raising concerns about the 2021 redistricting plan, requesting him to redistrict. Abbott cited the DOJ’s concerns in his call to add redistricting to the special session, which began July 21. The new redistricting plan likely would net at least five new Republican seats by moving Democrat incumbents to other districts and creating seven new districts (7, 9, 20, 30, 32, 34, 35), The Center Square reported.
Democrats also repeated their claim that they care more about the Hill Country flood victims than Republicans do and emergency funding should be prioritized.
“For two weeks, while the families in the Texas Hill Country mourned the loss of over 130 Texans in catastrophic floods, Democrats fought to make their relief the legislature’s top priority,” they said. “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.”
By leaving the state, legislative business is halted, including passing any relief measures for flood victims.
Several lawmakers who fled the state went to Chicago for a second time – after a House delegation went to Chicago and Sacramento a week ago to meet with Democratic governors to devise a strategy to block the Republican redistricting effort, The Center Square reported. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to meet them at the airport.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, who previously met with Prizker and again went to Chicago, said more information would be provided after they land. State Rep. Christina Morales, who also joined Wu on the first Chicago trip, posted a video of her entering the airport saying, “It’s time to take this fight on the road.”
Other Democrats posted videos of themselves at the airport. State Rep. James Talarico said, “My Democratic colleagues and I just left the state of Texas to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab. Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections right before our eyes. But first he’ll have to come through us. It’s time to fight back.” State Rep. Chris Turner posted an image of himself in front of an airplane saying it was a “good day to fight for our democracy” and asked for donations.
Also on Sunday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, issued a statement, saying, “The Texas House will be convening at 3:00pm tomorrow. If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table.”
He’s referring to potentially arresting state lawmakers who break quorum, disrupt legislative business in violation of House rules. Four years ago, the Texas Supreme Court ruled state lawmakers could be arrested, The Center Square reported.
House Democrats repeated a maneuver they used in July 2021 when they absconded for Washington, D.C., to prevent voting on election reform, The Center Square reported. That year, Abbott had called a special session to address 11 legislative items. Because Democrats absconded, legislative business halted. In August 2021, he called a second special session. When Democrats returned, the legislature eventually passed the reforms.
Unless House Democrats return for business to continue, Abbott is expected to call a second special session to begin around August 20, 30 days after the first session began on July 21.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article primarily reports on the actions and statements of Texas House Democrats and Republicans regarding the redistricting bill, presenting viewpoints from both sides without endorsing either. It includes direct quotes from Democrats explaining their quorum-breaking tactic and Republicans responding with potential enforcement measures. The language is mostly neutral, focusing on facts and documented statements rather than opinion or loaded framing. While the Democrats’ rhetoric is quoted extensively, the piece maintains a balanced tone by providing context on the Republican majority and legal background. Overall, the article adheres to neutral, factual reporting without promoting a clear ideological stance.
In June 1870, Texas senators first used quorum-breaking to block a bill, establishing a tactic still used today. Recently, Texas House Democrats fled the state to stop a GOP congressional redistricting map favoring Republicans with five extra seats. Experts view the move mainly as symbolic since Democrats would need to stay out until November to block it, which is unlikely given pressures like Governor Abbott’s ability to call unlimited special sessions. Fines of $500 per day exist for leaving the state, but fundraising and legal challenges mitigate impact. Republicans lack means to force absent Democrats back, relying instead on political pressure and potential drastic measures.
“Denying quorum has been a Texas political strategy since 1870” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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In June 1870, 13 Texas senators walked out of the Capitol to block a bill giving the governor wartime powers, depriving the upper chamber of the two-thirds quorum required for voting. Though the fleeing members were arrested, and the bill eventually passed, the “Rump Senate incident” established quorum-breaking as a minority party tactic that has persisted in Texas politics ever since.
After significant quorum breaks in 1979, 2003, and 2021, Texas House Democrats are once again employing this nuclear option, fleeing the state Sunday to block passage of a congressional redistricting map that would give Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House. The attempt represents the latest chapter for the maneuver that political scientists say, barring exceptional endurance on the part of the democratic delegation, is likely to be symbolic rather than directly effective in preventing redistricting.
“It’s a messaging move,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “It’s a last resort for Democrats who have run out of options legislatively and even legally.”
The reality of a quorum break
While the Democrats technically can prevent the GOP’s redistricting effort by breaking quorum, it would require the entire delegation to stay out of the state until at least November, which political scientists say is unlikely given historical precedent.
“If we’re going to follow our current primary schedule, we do need to have these districts approved by the Legislature before the opening of filing [for the 2026 midterms] in November,” explained Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.
The challenge for Democrats is that Gov. Greg Abbott can call unlimited special sessions lasting up to 30 days each. If Democrats break quorum during the current special session, which runs through late August, Abbott could immediately call another session the next day, and continue doing so indefinitely.
Even if Democrats managed to stay out of state until the November filing deadline, it could be possible for Republicans to simply hold a second round of primaries for the 2026 midterms according to Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Back in 1996, a couple of congressional districts in Texas were redrawn in violation of the Voting Rights Act. They actually had to hold a second round of primaries,” Taylor noted.
History suggests that the difficulty of living out of state away from legislator’s families and day jobs makes it difficult for an entire delegation to break quorum for longer than two special sessions.
“Many of them have children, families that they’ll be not seeing, at least not in state, missing things from football games to confirmations,” Jones said. “The precedent is that it’s not that hard to do for one special session. It’s possible albeit a reach for a second. Going toward a third would be unprecedented.”
There is also the physical difficulty of housing so many people out of state. The 2003 quorum break, prompted by another redistricting fight, “was a pretty bare bones operation. They had to kind of set up a war room in Oklahoma under very adverse circumstances. It was not a luxury,” said Rottinghaus.
Only 12 of the 62 House Democrats who have reportedly left the state need to return to restore a quorum, allowing votes to proceed.
Previous quorum breaks failed. In 2021, Democrats returned after six weeks. In 2003, Democrats ultimately returned and saw the redistricting maps they opposed become law.
Democrats can generate national media attention, but that coverage fades quickly.
“The novelty and the nationwide media coverage will start to dissipate in a matter of a week or two,” Jones said. “It’s tough to keep a story on the front burner for more than a week or so, especially when there’s really nothing new about it.”
What penalties do Democrats face?
House rules adopted in 2023 impose a $500-per-day fine on lawmakers who leave the state, and indicate that campaign funds cannot be used to pay the penalties. But Texas ethics laws provide ample workarounds.
“Under Texas ethics laws, it’s quite easy for some group to effectively just simply pay these legislators money as a form of compensation that then they can use to pay these fines,” Jones said. “Let’s say Mark Cuban wants to pay all these House Democrats $1,000 a day as consultants — they can do that.”
Last week, The Texas Tribune reported that Democrats had begun fundraising for a potential quorum break. During the 2021 quorum break, a Beto O’Rourke-backed group gave $600,000 to Texas House Democrats’ for their stay in Washington, D.C.
The legislators are also likely to challenge the fines in court, potentially delaying the financial consequences of the break
“Several mentioned that [the fines] are essentially a violation of their civil liberties,” Jones said, noting that former House member and current Rep. Jasmine Crockett has been among those discussing legal challenges.
Can Republicans compel Dems to return?
Attorney General Ken Paxton has promised his office will assist in “hunting down and compelling the attendance” of any Democrat who flees the state, however, political scientists say that there is no direct way for Republicans to compel the return of legislators who have left the state.
“If the House members are outside of the state of Texas, there is really nothing they can do,” said Jones.
If Democrats were still in Texas, Republicans could deploy the Department of Public Safety to track them down and physically compel their attendance. In 2003, during a redistricting battle, state troopers and even federal resources were used to search for missing legislators.
“They employed some federal resources to track planes that were flying out that they suspected had members on them,” Rottinghaus said of the 2003 episode.
The challenge of tracking down missing legislators was vividly illustrated during the 1979 “Killer Bees” episode, when a dozen Democratic state senators hid out in Austin to block changes to the primary election date. Then-Lt. Gov. William P. Hobby Jr. sent Texas Rangers and state troopers to hunt them down, leading to a weekslong game of hide-and-seek.
“They got caught eventually because of an enterprising reporter who was looking at a tip or rumor, and managed to confront one of the state senators taking out the trash,” Taylor said.
But Republicans’ most potent weapons may be political rather than legal. They can pressure Democrats by arguing other important legislation, including emergency aid for recent Hill Country flooding and regulations on consumable hemp, is being held hostage by the walkout.
“State Republicans may make a case that the future of the STAAR test or THC regulation or some funding for some of the disasters that have taken place recently are all in jeopardy because Democrats have bailed.” Rottinghaus said.
Republicans could also take novel, aggressive measures, like trimming the $20,000 monthly operating budgets given to House members to run their offices’ operations or declaring the seats vacant and triggering special elections, Rottinghaus said. The last option has never been used, even during the most contentious previous quorum breaks.
For some legislators, that most drastic option is already on the table. In a July 30 letter sent to the Republican Caucus, Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville wrote “Should members flee the state for an extended period, the Governor has the constitutional authority to declare their seats vacant.”
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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning
The content provides a detailed and factual overview of quorum-breaking tactics used primarily by Texas House Democrats in opposition to Republican redistricting efforts. It includes expert analysis from political scientists, historical context, and discusses the legal and practical challenges faced by both parties. While the article appears balanced and informative, it subtly frames Democratic quorum breaks as a justified “last resort” against Republican strategies, which may reflect a slight left-leaning perspective typical of The Texas Tribune’s generally progressive-leaning audience and editorial stance.
