Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke unleashed a blistering attack on Texas Republicans Friday, accusing them of a brazen power grab designed to strip voting power from millions of Black and Latino residents. Speaking at the progressive Netroots Nation conference in New Orleans, O’Rourke didn’t mince words: “These motherf**kers are panicking right now.”
The remarks came as Republicans in the Texas Legislature attempt to pass a new redistricting map that would hand former President Donald Trump five additional GOP-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. According to O’Rourke, Trump personally urged Gov. Greg Abbott to deliver those seats, and the GOP-dominated legislature has been “carving up the state” to make it happen.
Under the proposed map, Latino voters — more than 11 million strong in Texas — would wield just one-third of the political power of white residents, according to Democratic State Rep. Vince Perez of El Paso. Perez called the plan “clearly a racially engineered map” that should outrage Americans across the political spectrum.
The controversial vote was scheduled for Monday, but in a dramatic turn, 54 Democratic House members fled Texas, breaking quorum and halting the measure. “To hell with that,” O’Rourke said of the GOP effort. “They defied Donald Trump and stopped this power grab.”
The Republican response has been aggressive. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has asked the FBI to help track down and arrest the absent Democrats. Abbott has also threatened to push for even more GOP-friendly districts if Democrats continue to block the legislation.
The standoff has escalated beyond the legislature. Democrats have faced threats of violence, and earlier this week, a group of lawmakers was forced to evacuate a Chicago hotel following a bomb threat.
Adding to the tension, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against O’Rourke, targeting his political group, Powered by People, for helping cover expenses for Democrats who left the state. O’Rourke responded defiantly: “We’re not going to let Ken Paxton frighten us, intimidate us. The country wants to see a fight.”
He accused “older Democratic leaders” of caving too often to Republican demands. “Rather than saying, ‘To hell with that, we’re going to fight you tooth and nail,’” O’Rourke said, “we have to be ruthlessly focused on stopping their power grab and making sure we win power ourselves.”
The battle over Texas’s political map is far from over, but for now, the Democrats’ exodus has stalled the GOP’s redistricting ambitions — and O’Rourke has made clear that retreat is not an option.