Texas Governor Ken Paxton (R) said an investigation has been launched into a group led by Democrat politician Beto O’Rourke that is bankrolling dozens of Democrats who fled the Lone Star State to block a vote on new congressional maps.
Paxton said that O’Rourke’s group, Powered by People, potentially violated laws on bribery, campaign finance, and abuse of office. Powered by People is funding a group of 50 state Democrats who are each facing a $500 daily fine after fleeing to Illinois. (RELATED: Newsom Claims Texas Redistricting Will ‘Trigger’ New California Election Maps)
“Any Democrat coward breaking the law by taking a Beto Bribe will be held accountable,” Paxton said. “Texas cannot be bought. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all of the documents and communications obtained throughout this investigation. These jet-setting runaways have already lost public trust by abandoning our state, and Texans deserve to know if they received illegal bribes to do it.”
O’Rourke — who ran failed presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial campaigns — responded to Paxton’s investigation on X, “The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five Congressional seats.”
Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows set a Friday deadline for the Democrats to return to the legislature, but the 50 representatives are hoping to keep their stunt going and are pleading for donations as they remain in Illinois. (RELATED: Texas Democrats Protesting Redistricting Evacuate Chicago Hotel After Bomb Threat)
The House Democratic Caucus set up a website for donations of up to $2,500.
“We’re getting a lot of small-dollar donations, and that’s going to be used to help keep this thing going,” said Democrat House Caucus Chair Gene Wu.
“We’ve already been inundated with donations from across the state of Texas, from across the country, just regular people donating $5, $10, $15,” Democratic state Rep. James Talarico said. “And that’s appropriate, because this fight is for the people and it should be funded by the people. We don’t have billionaires who are funding this operation.”
Earlier this week, Paxton said he would seek judicial orders to remove the AWOL Democrats from office over their “refusal to perform legislative duties.” Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has also pushed to remove Wu from office over the state representative’s refusal to show up for the redistricting vote and reach quorum.
On Thursday, Senator John Cornyn (R–TX) revealed that the FBI has agreed to help law enforcement locate and potentially arrest Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to deny quorum and block a controversial redistricting vote. (RELATED: FBI Approves Request To Locate Fleeing Texas Democrats)
READ NEXT: Counting Illegals, Gaining Power: Democrats Rigged The 2020 Census
