As dozens of Texas state House Democrats near the one-week mark of their quorum break, fleeing the state indefinitely to prevent state GOP leaders from redrawing congressional lines, it’s not just politics that loom over the strategy. It’s money, too.
The Democrats face a $500 fine for each day they’re “absent without leave,” a rule put into place after Democratic legislators mounted a similar effort to deny the Legislature a quorum in 2021, plus a “pro rata share” of what the state House Sergeant at Arms spends in their efforts to compel them to return to the Capitol in Austin.
Those fines have already eclipsed the $600 monthly salary the lawmakers receive from their part-time elected posts. And given their meager salaries, and the fact that the Legislature only meets for regular session for six months every two years, virtually every state lawmaker has a day job they’ve left behind in Texas, too.
Those monetary factors, plus the realities of being far away from family and other obligations, further complicate the plan for Democrats who have fled their home state to deny Republicans the requisite number of lawmakers needed to move forward with business in the Legislature.
It’s all why state Democrats have been fundraising around their quorum break, why other Democrats have been lending a hand — and why Republicans have been targeting their funding.
“There’s people who are single moms, single dads, with their kids, and we just do what we can. None of this is fun,” state Rep. Gene Wu, the leader of the state House Democratic Caucus, told NBC News.
“We’ve been away from our families for six months already, right?” Wu continued, a reference to the six month legislative session that started in January. “During the special session, I can’t work. Most people can’t work. They’re away from their families. … All of us are making actual, real sacrifices to be here.”
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer said when it came to financial support, he believed most members felt comfortable, but if anyone didn’t, the rest of the members would have their backs.
“Because of the bond we have with this, if any member was in need of anything — there are a lot of camp counselors around, like I’m one of the camp counselors — we’re all going to help each other, and we’re not gonna leave anybody behind, and that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
State Rep. Armando Walle, who represents a Houston-area district, was one of two Texas House members to come to Boston — not only to break quorum but to attend the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit, where he felt he could spread the word.
He left Boston for Chicago on Wednesday alongside fellow state Rep. Ana Hernandez, where they plan to stay “as long as this special session lasts” — raising questions about how long he and the others can sustain lost wages and income.
But Walle, who owns a small civil law firm, said he has continued to see clients and attend hearings virtually, allowing him to continue making a living while not being physically present at his office and in the Harris County courts.
“I’m not independently wealthy,” Walle told NBC News on the sidelines of the state legislatures summit. “But I have clients that are right now accommodating. They understand the situation. Our judges, as well.”
Financing the quorum break
Texas Democrats haven’t been clear about how much money they’ve raised for their efforts. Wu told NBC News that on the first day they announced their quorum break they raised about $20,000 in small-dollar donations.
After Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker helped strike a deal with Texas Democratic leaders to take refuge in Illinois during the quorum break, speculation grew that Pritzker, a billionaire Democrat, was financially underwriting the efforts. Pritzker said more than once during press conferences this week that was not the case.
“I made clear to them that we would do everything logistically and otherwise to try to support them. I have not written a check or supported them financially, though I am not reticent to do that,” Pritzker said. “I have not done that but lots and lots of people around the country have.”
Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke built a potent fundraising machine during a run for Senate in 2018, and his political group, Powered by People, has been raising money to support the Texas Democrats. O’Rourke told CNN during a Wednesday interview the money was going to “make sure they have the resources for their lodging, their food, their flights” as well as their legal defense.
That disclosure prompted state Attorney General Ken Paxton to announce he was investigating O’Rourke’s group over that funding, which he called “illegal bribes.” (Paxton is running for Senate in 2026, and O’Rourke has not ruled out a Senate bid of his own.)
“Any Democrat coward breaking the law by taking a Beto Bribe will be held accountable,” Paxton said in a statement.
In a statement responding to that investigation, O’Rourke invoked the Texas state House’s impeachment of the attorney general in 2023. Paxton was later acquitted in the state Senate.
“The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five congressional seats,” O’Rourke said. “Let’s stop these thugs before they steal our country.”
No matter how the fundraising efforts go, eventually, something has to give. Walle, the Texas lawmaker who traveled from Boston to Chicago this week to continue breaking quorum, acknowledged to NBC News that the group’s decampment from Texas couldn’t go on forever.
But he also wouldn’t commit to an end date or a firm or specific end goal, saying only he wanted to continue “raising awareness” and would likely remain out of state through the current special session.
“Beyond that, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” he said.
