‘It gives remnants of Jim Crow’: Why 50 Democrats fled Texas
More than 50 Democrats have fled Texas to prevent Republicans from moving district boundaries to secure more right-wing votes. Jolanda Jones tells The News Agents why leaving the state is a “last stand” for Democracy.
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In brief…
- Jolanda Jones is in hiding after leaving Texas to prevent changes to district borders which will break up black-majority voting neighbourhoods.
- More than 50 Democrats have left the state, preventing a vote being taken on the changes due to Texas House rules.
- She says leaving Texas was the only option to prevent the planned changes, but is now living in hiding, describing the situation as a “last stand for Democracy”, and saying she’s willing to stay away for a year or more to make a stand.
What’s the story?
Jolanda Jones can’t tell The News Agents where she is.
We know where she's not. The Texas House Representative is not in her home state, having joined more than 50 other Democratic lawmakers who fled in early August to block Republican gerrymandering to secure more seats.
Republicans intend to move district boundaries to reduce the number of black or brown-majority neighbourhoods. The boundary moves bisect these areas, and ensure that the voting majority in newly shaped districts is white, and favours Republicans.
“It is strategically precise, it is scary, and it is racist,” Jones tells Jon Sopel.
“They're going to wipe out two black congressional districts, one is going to become white Republican and the other one is going to become Hispanic Republican, but they are only able to do that by targeting black and brown communities and breaking them up.”
There are 150 representatives in the Texas House – 88 Republicans, 62 Democrats. To pass a motion, Republicans only need 76 votes, so Democrat support is not required.
What is required is their attendance. Business cannot be conducted in the House unless there are 100 representatives present.
“It's very ugly and it gives remnants of the past. It gives remnants of Jim Crow. It gives remnants of pre Voting Rights Act. It gives remnants of pre Civil Rights Act,” she says.
She says the goal for Republicans is to win five extra representatives for Donald Trump in 2026 to hold the House.
“This is a racist redistricting – it's not just a power grab,” Jones adds.
She describes her actions as “the last stand of democracy” in the state of Texas.
“There are only four black Congress-people in Texas, and Texas has the largest concentration of black people in the whole United States,” she says.
One of the US representatives at risk under the changes is Democrat firebrand Jasmine Crockett, whose constituency will be moved from District 30 to District 33, where she will be running against Marc Veasey, who is also a black Democratic Party member in the US House of Representatives.
Jones says white Texans have more than four times the voting power of black Texans, and two times the strength of Hispanic Texans. Planned district changes are set to only make the matter worse.
How have Texas Republicans responded?
Republican lawmakers have approved civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats, and Texas governor Greg Abbott has recently shared ‘Wanted’ posters for five of the absent Democrats.
“It reminds me of slave patrols, when they wanted to find slaves who escaped,” Jones says.
“It is history repeating itself, and it is scary.
“If they can do that to me, a person that's elected and is – quote, unquote – important, I feel sorry for regular old Americans who aren't in a position to go hide.”
Jones, who works full time as a lawyer, says she, and the other Democrats, have broken no laws, and are now being “hunted” by the FBI as they hide in other states.
“I’m a person who has access to resources, I'm a person who has access to power. I can call important people and get them to answer the phone,” she tells Jon Sopel.
“Yet I'm hiding from the federal government for something that's not even federal, so it's real serious here.
“I don't even hardly answer the phone for fear that my phone is being bugged. This is America, and it's not supposed to be like this.”
Republicans have also criticised the absent Democrats for preventing votes on passing relief measures for victims of July flooding, which killed 130 people in San Antonio.
What’s the next move for the Texas Democrats?
The plan for Jones and her fellow Democrat Party members was to stay out of state until the end of the current Texas state session – but governor Abbott has countered this by announcing the next will begin immediately after, without a break.
This could mean remaining on the run, and “hunted” for another year.
“In the best case scenario, if somehow we are able to stay gone until next summer, it'll be too late to change the maps and people get to vote on what's there now,” Jones says.
“The goal is to stop Trump from keeping the House in 2026.”
Jones says Trump has no respect for the Constitution, government, or the people of America.
“He has literally weaponised the federal government to be his henchman,” she says.
“For all intents and purposes, he's like the lead mafia boss of the United States.”
She says making this political stand has changed how she lives her life, having to leave her state, her work and essentially live in hiding from law-enforcement.
But this isn’t just about politics. She has a personal stake in this fight.
“I miss my mother, I'm her caregiver, I've had to leave her in the hands of my family. I’m a new grandmother, my grandbaby is a year and a half,” she adds.
“I cannot leave an America to her, a Texas, to her where she doesn't have rights. I just can't do that.
“So as much as I'd like to be home, I need to be exactly where I am, sadly.”