Texan nationalists have insisted “the only solution is independence” after a chaotic battle over a redistricting bill which saw Texas House Democrats flee the state for several weeks to break quorum.

Speaking to Newsweek, Daniel Miller, president of the secessionist Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), said the Texas Legislature was being “held hostage by policies designed in Washington for Washington’s benefit.”

Why It Matters

On August 3 more than 50 Texas House Democrats left the state to break quorum, preventing the passage of a President Trump backed redistricting bill that could give the Republicans five additional seats in the national House of Representatives.

As a result, work in the Texas House, including the passage of several bills unrelated to redistricting, ground to a halt and arrest warrants were issued for the renegade lawmakers, though these couldn’t be enforced outside Texas.

After an absence of over two weeks Texas House Democrats returned to the state on August 18, and the redistricting bill was subsequently passed and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.

What To Know

Texas Partisan, the official news website of the TNM, published an article arguing the Democratic lawmakers leaving Texas to break quorum, and the Texas House Republican Caucus’s failure to pass a motion on censure on August 25, showed that being part of the Union wasn’t in Texans interests.

On Monday the Texas House Republican Caucus backed a proposal to increase the daily fine for breaking quorum from $500 per day to $660, but didn’t endorse a bid to formally censure the Democrats who used this tactic.

In its article, which was bylined as “Staff,” the Texas Partisan said: “The failed censure motion exposes the same establishment weakness that has allowed federal tyranny to expand unchecked for decades. These are the same Republicans who talk tough about states’ rights but fold the moment they’re asked to actually defend them—the same politicians who campaign on conservative values but lack the courage to enforce basic legislative discipline.”

The publication continued: “This is exactly why Texas needs independence through TEXIT. In a sovereign Texas, we wouldn’t have legislators running to Illinois for protection from accountability. We wouldn’t have representatives whose primary loyalty is to Chuck Schumer instead of their constituents. We would have a government that serves Texas interests, period.”

TEXIT is an abbreviation of ‘Texas exit’ used by some Texas independence supporters, mirroring the use of BREXIT to refer to the UK’s exit from the European Union in 2020.

The Texas Partisan article added: “If Republicans can’t even censure Democrats who abandoned their posts, they certainly can’t be trusted to defend Texas from federal tyranny. The only solution is independence—and the sooner we achieve it, the sooner we can have accountability instead of theater, governance instead of gridlock, and representatives who actually represent Texas.”

In response to the Texas redistricting proposal, California Governor Gavin Newsom has backed a similar move in his state which would could cost the Republicans five seats in the House. Unlike in Texas, this must be approved by voters in November.

The article concluded: “The redistricting battle has sparked a nationwide gerrymandering war, with California Democrats already moving to redraw their maps in retaliation. This interstate political warfare perfectly demonstrates how Texas remains entangled in destructive federal politics that serve everyone’s interests except our own.”

What People Are Saying

Addressing Newsweek TNM leader Miller said: “Every aspect of this redistricting fight has its roots in failed federal policies. Decades of federal meddling in immigration, census counting, and voting procedures have turned what should be straightforward representation into a rigged game. The demographics driving these redistricting battles aren’t natural. They’re the direct result of Washington’s meddling policies that Texas has been forced to absorb.

“The legal frameworks forcing these redistricting fights come straight from federally mandated dysfunction designed to keep states fighting each other instead of focusing on governing their own people. Democrats fleeing to D.C. and Republicans refusing to hold them accountable are both symptoms of a system where federal policy creates the crisis, then federal politicians profit from the chaos. Texas independence means Texas solutions to Texas problems, instead of having our legislature held hostage by policies designed in Washington for Washington’s benefit.”

What Happens Next

Texas nationalists are likely to continue using tensions between Texas and Democratic controlled states to argue the American Union isn’t functioning effectively, and should be broken up.

The Texas redistricting bill is intended to take effect before the 2026 midterm elections, when Democrats are hoping to flip the House which the GOP currently has a seven seat majority in.