Texas House Democrats return to the state, ending their quorum break, and board a bus to the Texas Capitol at Signature Aviation Austin, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Texas House Democrats penned a letter backing their Democratic counterparts in Tennessee, condemning what they referred to as Republicans’ “retaliation” after GOP lawmakers stripped them of their committee assignments following protests tied to a newly approved congressional map, which carves up a majority-Black district.
The Thursday letter addressed to Tennessee House Democratic leader Karen Camper and House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons denounced the “blatant discrimination” and “abuse of power” against lawmakers who “refused to sit silently while a Republican supermajority cuts apart Black political power in the middle of an election cycle.”
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As of Thursday morning, more than 35 Texas House Democrats had signed onto the letter.
“Texas Democrats know this pattern because we’ve lived it. When lawmakers use every available tool to defend voting rights, the response is often punishment dressed up as procedure,” state Rep. Mihaela Plesa (D-Dallas), whose idea it was to pen the letter, told the American-Statesman.
Plesa again echoed that the move to strip these Democrats of their positions in leadership was “political retribution.”
“Committee assignments are how legislators ask questions publicly, how they can amend legislation, how they can advocate for their district,” Plesa said. “So, we’re removing those lawmakers over political disagreement. That’s a serious concern.”
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Tennessee takes a page out of Texas’ redistricting playbook
Tennessee Republican lawmakers approved a new congressional map last week that dismantled a Black-majority congressional district built around the predominantly Black city of Memphis. The vote is likely to flip the historically Democratic-held seat to Republicans in November.
The approval of the new map did not go down without a fight. Activists and Democratic lawmakers alike protested, with visitors yelling from the gallery and legislators reportedly standing at the front of the chamber, linking arms in prayer, as air horns and chants rang out in the background.
Those against the move to redistrict argue that it is akin to the Jim Crow era of racial discrimination.
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Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton subsequently penned a letter to Camper, notifying the leader that House Democrats would be removed from all standing committees and subcommittees as discipline for “instigating and encouraging” disruptions and “disorder on the House floor.”
Sexton’s letter cited examples such as lawmakers’ “interlocking arms in the well of the House,” “blocking aisles on the House floor” and using “prohibited props and noisemakers.”
Democratic Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, who is Black and represents Nashville, posted on social media a copy of a letter he received notifying him of his removal from committees and subcommittees.
“This is the same pattern of racial discrimination and authoritarian abuse we have come to expect,” Jones wrote. Notably, at one point during the protests, Jones burned a printout of the Confederate flag.
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Camper posted an open letter on Facebook in response to the removals, describing the carving up of the Memphis-area congressional district as “one of the most troubling abuses of power this legislature has seen in recent memory.”
The Democratic leader said that when Democrats speak out and expose what is happening in the Tennessee House, the supermajority responds with “retaliation.”
“We are hurt. We are disappointed,” Camper wrote. “But we are not intimidated.”
The Tennessee House is a GOP stronghold, with 75 Republicans and 24 Democrats.
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Democrats’ déjà vu
Texas Democrats faced similar punitive measures as a result of their decision to break quorum to protest Republican- and Trump-backed redistricting in the Lone Star State.
More than 50 Texas Democrats were hit with thousands of dollars in fines imposed by Texas House Republicans. The roughly $9,000 bill Democrats had to foot amounted to $500 per day for their absence and a reimbursement for the work to return them to Texas.
Last week, Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu (D-Houston) confirmed he had paid his fine and said that he and other caucus members decided to pay the fines rather than challenge them in a battle that would have been equally expensive.
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In an unprecedented move by a sitting Texas governor, Gov. Greg Abbott is also calling on the Texas Supreme Court to take action on his months-old civil lawsuit to oust Wu from office due to his role in leading the Democrats during the quorum break.
If Abbott is successful in his efforts, the removal from office would only apply to Wu’s current two-year term. Wu is up for reelection in November, and if he wins, he would be eligible to be sworn into a new term in January.
“For us, we feel a sense of responsibility to continue having a national conversation about what is happening when we’re talking about redistricting,” Plesa told the Statesman. “We know that Tennessee isn’t going to be the last place where Republicans essentially are going to be forced to redraw not just congressional maps, but state legislature maps and school maps, all over the nation.”
Plesa emphasized that the caucus wants to send a clear message: they stand in solidarity with Tennessee Democrats, with Republicans who are fighting against these efforts and all lawmakers who face political retaliation.
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“The knife cuts both ways,” Plesa said.
The caucus plans to send the letter to Tennessee lawmakers later Thursday afternoon.