SUMMARY: Good morning, I’m meteorologist Cheetah Craft with your Tropics update. In the Atlantic, we’re monitoring a tropical wave in the central Atlantic with a 30% chance of development and another wave in the Bay of Campeche with a 60% chance over the next week. This wave will remain in the southern Gulf for 24-48 hours. A stalled cold front will allow for potential tropical development along the Texas coastline midweek, increasing rain chances. The peak of hurricane season is approaching, and we urge everyone to stay vigilant for updates as we closely monitor these systems.
There are multiple spots in the tropics we’re watching, but one in particular has our attention.
SUMMARY: The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee approved Senate Bill 7, a “bathroom bill” restricting transgender individuals from using restrooms in government buildings and schools matching their gender identity, requiring use based on sex assigned at birth. Authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, the bill includes fines for violations and covers prisons and women’s violence shelters. Supporters argue it protects women’s privacy and safety, while opponents fear increased discrimination and harm to transgender people. Over 100 testified, with emotional debate on both sides. The bill faces obstacles in the Texas House, where Democrats have fled the state to block GOP redistricting, stalling progress.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-08-04 19:59:00
After dozens of Texas House Democrats left the state to block a redistricting vote, House Speaker Dustin Burrows signed civil arrest warrants and directed law enforcement to bring them back. Governor Greg Abbott ordered state troopers to assist and warned of potential bribery charges linked to fundraising by fleeing Democrats. The Democrats fled to prevent a vote that could shift up to five Congressional seats from blue to red. Burrows emphasized the importance of completing legislative duties, including flood relief and education reform. Abbott also tasked Texas Rangers with investigating legal violations related to the Democrats’ absence. The House reconvenes Tuesday.
(The Center Square) – After no quorum was reached in the Texas House on Monday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows voted for and signed motions the House passed requiring the return of 56 missing Democrats. This included Burrows signing civil warrants for their arrest and directing the sergeant of arms to find those in Texas and bring them back to the capitol.
Those who absconded out of the state can only be arrested by Texas law enforcement within state lines, which is why dozens of Democrats left the state Sunday to halt a vote on a Congressional redistricting effort that could flip up to five seats from blue to red.
However, when asked if Burrows would accept assistance from the Trump administration to arrest Democrats who went to Illinois and New York, he replied, “we will do whatever we need to do to continue this important work. There is nothing off the table.”
Gov. Greg Abbott also directed Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to assist with their arrest and return to the capitol, The Center Square reported.
On Sunday, dozens of House Democrats announced “the special session was over” in opposition to Texas redistricting efforts and left the state. The legislature had convened on July 21 for 30 days to address 18 legislative items, including funding and policy changes related to the historic July 4 deadly flood event. On Saturday, a House committee passed a redistricting bill that was scheduled for a vote on Monday. By absconding, House Democrats delayed the vote.
Sunday night, Abbott ordered that they return to Austin or they would be arrested and potentially removed from office. He also said those who were fundraising were potentially committing bribery.
Democrats who fled “abandoned their posts, and turned their backs on the constituents they swore to represent,” Burrows said. “They’ve shirked their responsibilities under the direction of pressure of out-of-state politicians and activists who don’t know the first thing about what’s right for Texas.”
After signing the civil arrest warrants, Burrows held a news conference saying the House had important work that needed to be done.
“We encountered unprecedented flooding in the Hill Country. We have members of committees who have met not only in Austin to meet with the relevant state officials, but also the families,” he said. They’ve been working on legislation that has been filed, referred, and will be heard,” he said. The bills relate to funding for flood victims but also policy changes to implement to help with future floods.
Other issues include eliminating the STAAR test, property tax reform, human trafficking penalties and protections, among others the governor put on the call for the special session.
He also explained that lawmakers not working is not optional.
Pursuant to the Texas Constitution, “the governor gets to set the agenda, and the constitution says the members of the legislature shall show up to do their jobs,” Burrows said. “I am proud of the members who are here. It was bipartisan. I am hopeful there’ll be more members here tomorrow.
“But I am disappointed that while these members are here reporting for their duty under the Constitution, others are out of the state in New York and Chicago, in places they do not represent.”
He also said that while the work of the House may be delayed, “whether it’s tomorrow or next week, the House will complete its required duties.”
Authorities will be arresting members who are in the state, including one who announced a fundraiser in Austin on Tuesday, Burrows said. He sent the information “to DPS and said they should be invited to attend as well,” he said.
Abbott on Monday afternoon 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. That investigation should extend to anyone who aided or abetted such potential crimes.”
Based on statements Democrats made in news conferences and posts on social media, many solicited or claimed to receive funds to evade conducting legislative business and casting votes. “Under the Texas Penal Code, any of those Democrats who solicit, accept, or agree to accept such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws,” Abbott said. “Also, it could be a bribery violation for any other person who offers, provides, or agrees to provide such funds to fleeing Democrat House members.”
The House is scheduled to convene on Tuesday at 1 pm.
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: Center-Right
The article primarily reports on the actions and statements of Texas Republican leaders, focusing on their efforts to compel absent Democratic lawmakers to return and complete legislative business. The language reflects a perspective aligned with the Republican viewpoint, emphasizing duty, law enforcement, and criticism of the Democrats’ tactics. While the piece quotes officials directly and covers the Democrats’ strategy factually, the framing centers on the disruption caused by Democrats and highlights Republican efforts to enforce legislative rules. This focus and tone suggest a center-right bias rather than neutral reporting, as it largely presents the Republican narrative without exploring Democratic arguments or context in equal depth.
Most Texas House Democrats fled the state amid a redistricting dispute, with many heading to the Chicago area for a press conference with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on August 2. Others traveled to New York to meet Gov. Kathy Hochul, who condemned Texas’ redistricting and considered retaliatory maps, while some attended a legislative summit in Boston alongside Texas Senate Democrats. State Rep. Gene Wu, House Democratic Caucus chair, stated they are handling the fight “day by day” amid financial hardships. He noted the personal sacrifices made, including being away from families and jobs for months during the long legislative session.
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More than 50 Texas House Democrats have fled the state to try to stop Republican state lawmakers from redrawing congressional districts maps that could help the GOP flip five Democratic seats during the 2026 midterm elections.
Republican lawmakers have said that redrawing boundaries will allow GOP candidates to pick up as many as five seats, but that it does not guarantee them wins. Democrats say the proposed reconfigurations take away power from Black and Latino voters. They also say the proposal splits up local communities, moving many voters into districts that also cover far-away regions.
Gov. Greg Abbott directed state lawmakers to redraw the districts at the urging of the Trump administration. Redrawing congressional districts in the middle of a decade is rare, but allowed. Abbott also warned Texas House Democrats that he would attempt to have them removed from office if they do not return to Austin.
Here’s what you need to know about the redistricting fight.
Map targets Austin, Dallas, Houston and South Texas
A draft of the new map released in late July proposes to reshape a handful of districts in Texas’ major metro areas to be more favorable to Republicans, while pitting a few Democratic Congress members against each other in next year’s elections:
South Texas: The districts currently held by U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen would become slightly more favorable to Republicans.
Dallas-Fort Worth area: U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson’s Dallas-anchored district would be overhauled to favor Republicans. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey’s would remain solidly blue but drop all of Fort Worth — Veasey’s hometown and political base. This could set up a primary between Veasey and Johnson.
Austin area: A proposed GOP seat could trigger U.S. Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett to face each other in a primary for Central Texas’ lone remaining blue district. Otherwise, one of the two would have to step aside or run an uphill race for Casar’s new district, based in San Antonio and the solidly red outlying counties east of the city, that Trump would have won by 10 points.
Houston area: Four Democratic districts would be altered. The biggest change would be in the 9th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Al Green, that would shift to the eastern parts of Houston and Harris County, where no current member of Congress lives. Under that proposed change, Trump would have carried the district by 15 percentage points.
Texas Republicans acknowledge plan aims to benefit GOP
Currently, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 House seats. The proposed map could help Republicans pick up five more. The plan would dismantle four congressional districts that the U.S. Department of Justice said unconstitutionally combined Black and Hispanic voters. The state has disputed that charge in an ongoing lawsuit, arguing the lines were drawn without an eye toward race.
The draft advanced by a House committee would have likely faced changes before getting final approval from both chambers of the Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott, but Texas Republicans made their partisan intentions clear.
Setting aside the legal justification offered by the DOJ, state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Republican state lawmaker championing the redistricting legislation, said the proposed “five new districts are based on political performance”.
Most of the House Democrats fled to the Chicago area, where they held a press conference with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Aug. 2.
Others headed to New York for at least a day to meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has condemned Texas’ mid-decade redistricting effort and entertained the idea of retaliating with new maps in her state. A third contingent of lawmakers departed for Boston to attend the National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual legislative summit, alongside some Texas Senate Democrats, according to a source familiar with the senators’ plans.
At a press conference, state Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters that they were taking the redistricting fight “day by day” and he wasn’t sure exactly what the caucus’ next steps would be amid financial strains.
“We’re all away from our families that we’ve already been away from for six months,” he said, referring to the 140-day legislative session that ended in early June. “We’ve been away from our jobs. We’ve not earned a lot of income this entire year. … This is not a decision that we take lightly.”
Staying away will cost Democrats financially
Before Democrats in the Texas House decamped, members of Congress were encouraging deep-pocketed donors in the party to help cover expenses, which include not only lodging and other travel costs, but also $500-a-day fines adopted by House Republicans after Democrats fled in 2021 in an unsuccessful bid to stop Republicans from passing an overhaul of the state’s election laws.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that members could face felony charges for “soliciting funds” to pay the fines, which he argued could amount to violations of the state’s bribery laws.
Republicans threaten to remove Democrats from office
Abbott threatened to initiate legal action to remove the Democrats who fled from office if they did not return to the Texas Capitol.
This could kick off a lengthy and complicated legal process that would require the Texas attorney general or a local district attorney to file a lawsuit against each state lawmaker asking a judge to remove them on the grounds that they have abandoned their office.
But the removal would not be guaranteed as legal experts say there would be no grounds for a judge to rule that participating in a quorum break warrants removal from office. After Texas House Democrats broke quorum in 2021 to block restrictive voting measures, the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court acknowledged that the Texas Constitution allows for members to deprive the state House or Senate of a quorum.
House Speaker agrees to sign warrants, but they’re mostly symbolic
After the majority of the remaining House members voted to compel the absent Democrats back, 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 them to the Capitol.
They will not face civil or criminal charges from the arrests. The warrants apply only within state lines, making them largely symbolic as most of the legislators in question decamped to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts to forestall passage of the GOP’s proposed redraw of Texas’ congressional map.
Denying quorum is a political strategy that rarely works
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.
Texas Democrats’ 2021 quorum break collapsed after six weeks when internal divisions fractured Democratic unity and three Houston Democrats returned citing the COVID-19 pandemic. That allowed the controversial legislation to pass.
If Texas Republicans succeed, they could trigger a redistricting arms race
Democratic leaders across the country, particularly in New York and California, have also vowed to fight back by redrawing Congressional district lines in other states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom told aides he will move forward with a plan to redraw his state’s congressional lines to install more Democrats if Texas Republicans pass their own updated map, according to a person with direct knowledge of Newsom’s thinking. The move would set up a national fight.
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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: Center-Right
This article reports on the Texas redistricting conflict with a primarily factual tone, detailing actions by both Republicans and Democrats. It highlights the Republican-led effort to redraw maps to gain seats and the Democrats’ quorum-breaking response to block the plan. While largely neutral, the article does emphasize Republican intentions to benefit their party and includes legal and political context showing complexity and contested perspectives. The presence of detailed Republican viewpoints and legal challenges, along with the framing of Democrats’ tactics as unlikely to succeed, subtly leans toward a center-right stance without overt partisanship.
