(C) Texas Tribune This story was originally published by Texas Tribune and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Blast - August 8, 2025 [1] ['The Texas Tribune'] Date: 2025-08 11 days until sine die 92 days until the candidate filing period begins 122 days until the candidate filing deadline Additionally, a Tarrant County district court has placed a temporary restraining order on former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke after Paxton sued to stop his “Beto bribes” to absent Democrats. After Paxton sued the 13 Democrats, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn filed a brief with SCOTX supporting Abbott’s version of the lawsuit. And yesterday, Cornyn said FBI Director Kash Patel agreed to help locate the missing Democrats. Meanwhile, Paxton is doubling down on the lawsuit approach, asking the Texas Supreme Court to expel 13 House Democrats . That came after Gov. Greg Abbott sued on Wednesday to oust House Democratic Leader Gene Wu and Paxton wrote to say Abbott didn’t have that authority. By going after members’ budgets and limiting their cashflow, House Republicans hope to coax Democrats back because their staffers are taking the brunt of the hit. “Each one of you knows that eventually you will come back and we will pass the priorities of the special session on the call,” Burrows said from the dais, “but with each passing day, the political cost of your absence is rising, and it will be paid in full.” That’s on top of the $500 daily fine that members have been accruing. Travel reimbursement, staff salary changes and newsletter approvals must be in person 30% of their $21,250 monthly office budgets will be withheld Absent members will have to pick up their $221 per diem in person Yesterday, Paxton and Burrows asked an Illinois court to enforce Texas’ arrest warrants against Democrats. On the floor today, Burrows said he expects more suits in other states, and he outlined the growing list of penalties for absent Democrats: Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows are all escalating efforts to round up the runaway Democrats as the Texas House quorum break ends Day 5. As Democrats track their quorum math, if it looks like the House may finally have a quorum, absconded members may start returning to Austin to be ready if the House gets back to work. Burrows is asking members to stay within six hours of Austin this weekend but to come back for sure on Monday. Now, 43 Democrats are accounted for as definitively out of state. It takes 100 present to make quorum, so Democrats need 51 absences to maintain the quorum break. “Harassing my family, spreading lies, and dragging my name into political games is beyond unacceptable — it is a deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic,” she said in a statement. “I do not appreciate any of it, and neither side is helping the cause.” Rep. Claudia Ordaz , D-El Paso, posted on social media that she is in the hospital and that she has made that clear from the beginning. But today, she said, Department of Public Safety troopers showed up at a family member’s home, searching for her. Today, 95 were in the House chamber, a net loss of one in the search for 100 members. Rep. Mary González , D-Clint, showed up, but Reps. Terry Canales , D-Edinburg, and Eddie Morales , D-Eagle Pass, were absent this time. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one . HOUSE “RINO” CENSURE EFFORT RAMPS UP THIS WEEKEND A different type of House member removal effort will kick into high gear tomorrow when a Texas GOP panel presents its outline for censurable offenses by Republican lawmakers. From there, it will be a two-month sprint to keep Dustin Burrows’ supporters off the 2026 GOP primary ballot. In June, Texas GOP Chair Abraham George appointed 13 members of the State Republican Executive Committee to a Legislative Review Task Force. The group has been combing through House journals, town hall speeches and actions related to leadership and rules votes in the lower chamber, all to draft a list of grievances for county parties to cite when they censure House incumbents in the coming weeks. Longstanding intraparty tensions exploded into a three-way civil war in 2023 after the Texas House impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton and failed to pass school vouchers. In total, 15 Republican House members lost in the primaries, nine retired and House Speaker Dade Phelan gave up the gavel. Still, enough GOP members backed Burrows and the old leadership regime to elect the Lubbock Republican speaker, forming a coalition of 49 Democrats and 36 “RINO” Republicans, as labeled by conservative activists. The SREC task force meeting, scheduled for tomorrow morning in the Capitol auditorium, comes at a moment of unity for the Texas House Republican Caucus, which stands behind Burrows and the effort to bring Democrats back to Austin. Still, it doesn’t look like party leaders are pumping the brakes. Beginning tomorrow, the censure fight will accelerate through the candidate filing deadline. County party executive committees will have until Sept. 6 to submit censures against incumbents. The SREC will then hold a marathon special meeting in Austin on Oct. 11 to consider each censure. Under a rule adopted at the Texas GOP Convention in 2024, a county executive committee may vote to censure an official for violating the party’s list of core principles. If the SREC approves the censure, it could then permit the county party to bar the censured official from the primary ballot for the next two years. Incumbents have vowed to challenge the untested rule, and legal experts question the legality of the rule. There are also a few built-in deadlines party activists will have to overcome. The county parties must give members at least seven days’ heads up before censuring them. Additionally, the SREC must give members at least 14 days’ notice before it votes. That makes the calendar of events look something like this: Aug. 9: Task force report considered Aug. 30: Deadline for CECs to notify officials of incoming censures Sept. 6: Deadline for CECs to submit censures to the SREC Sept. 28: Deadline for the SREC to notify officials of censure votes Oct. 11: SREC special meeting Nov. 8: The start of the candidate filing period Dec. 8: The end of the candidate filing period It’s a quick turnaround at each step, so state party officials have been encouraging county parties to line up their censure resolutions and meetings ahead of time. For example, the Navarro County GOP has scheduled a meeting for Aug. 21 to consider a censure against state Rep. Cody Harris of Palestine. Harris was previously censured by the Henderson County GOP with a resolution that had too many factual errors to count. Like the Lubbock County GOP, which stands behind Burrows, not every county party is on board with censuring their representatives. Some believe the Republican Party of Texas’ rule 44 is illegal. “I don’t want to go against my RPT, but if they’re going to do that, I’m going to follow the law,” one party chair told The Blast. [END] --- [1] Url: https://thetexastribune.beehiiv.com/p/the-blast-august-8-2025-f9574af0854c63f9 Published and (C) by Texas Tribune Content appears here under this condition or license: Used with Permission: https://www.texastribune.org/republishing-guidelines/. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/texastribune/