Party of 'crazies': Dems comply with outrageous redistricting stunts due to primary threats, state rep says

"If they were to come back, they would lose in a primary to someone even more socialistic than they are," Cain told Fox News Digital in a Thursday Zoom interview. "So yeah, they're actually there out of fear, not out of fear of the Republican legislation, but out of fear of their own people. And so they'll continue to sit out of state at their own detriment, all because of the fear of being primaried by someone even crazier than they are." 

"I can tell you that many of them don't want to be there. They know that ultimately they're going to lose, but because their party's run by a bunch of crazies, they have to be there," he continued of the Democrats who left the state ahead of Monday. 

State lawmakers have reported they plan to be absent from the state until the end of August, when the special session ends. 

Texas law requires at least two-thirds of lawmakers in either chamber be present to proceed with legislative matters, with the Democrat minority party currently holding 62 seats in the Texas house to the GOP's 88.

The Texas House has been at a standstill since the Democrats fled over the weekend. Six Democrats are in the Austin area this week, Cain explained, meaning six more Democrats are required before the body can reach a quorum. 

Cain said that he heard three additional Democrats are in the Houston area and likely "taunting" Republicans to potentially arrest them over their absence. 

"They're older members, and they're kind of taunting us to arrest them with the idea that 'who would arrest grandma?' It's kind of a clever play by the Democrats," he said. 

Texas Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows signed arrest warrants for the absent Democrats on Monday, following the state House approving of such warrants and Gov. Greg Abbott calling on the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest the "delinquent Texas House Democrats."  The arrest warrants are largely viewed as symbolic as they only apply to those within state lines. 

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) reported Thursday that the FBI agreed to his request to help assist in locating the whereabouts of the derelict lawmakers as Republicans work to reach a quorum upon the Democrats' returns. 

"I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas," Cornyn said in a Thursday news release. "We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities." 

In response to the investigation, O'Rourke described Republicans in Texas as "thugs" who are attempting to "steal our country" and accused Paxton of bribery himself.

Democratic governors, such as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, have since opened their proverbial doors to the Texas Democrats who fled the Lone Star State. 

"The irony of this entire walkout, of course, they go to states that are some of the worst gerrymandered states that we've seen. 

"We're now being able to expose and show the world the maps of these hypocrites. And they also call themselves brave. But as to quote Governor Greg Abbott, they're very un-Texan, Texans don't run from a fight," he continued. 

Texas lawmakers have used quorum breaking as a political strategy going back to 1870, and last unfolded in 2021, when Democratic state lawmakers fled to Washington, D.C., out of an attempt to block the passage of voting and election integrity legislation, as well as the 2004 walk-out also over redistricting. 

Cain said history shows such stunts have not proven fruitful for Democrats. 

"Democrats lost seats every time they came back - might be a hint that the voters don't appreciate those things. We also still passed the legislation. So it's really a costly, futile move whereby it's just pure theater, a chance to go and fundraise, but really they're not standing up for democracy at all. Rather, they're just being pure obstructionists and obstructing the will of the people that have elected them," he said. 

"In California, it's all gerrymandered," Trump said during an interview with CNBC Tuesday. "And we have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats." 

For Cain, redistricting in Texas is needed as its demographics have shifted since 2020, when the state last redrew its voting maps. 

"Over the last few years, Texas has drastically changed, our population has tremendously changed, not just from the open border policies of Joe Biden, but also because of our great economic conditions that have caused people to flee California and Illinois and Boston to come and want to live here. In order to reflect that population change, we need to update our map," he said. 

Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.