'Mess with Texas': Plane banners, highway signs cross state lines in redistricting fight

A Republican plan to add five congressional seats in Texas has moved outside the state's borders and even beyond the state's Democrats' exodus.

Banner Planes above state houses, California highway banners

Banner planes with the phrase "Mess with Texas" flew over several state capitols Monday afternoon, including Annapolis, Albany and Sacramento, a push from a "group of democracy advocates."

In phone calls to companies that were chartered to fly the planes in New York and Maryland, they were not able to say who was leading the group behind the signs, just that they were hired by another company to fly.

The banners were a play on the Texas Department of Transportation's "Don't Mess with Texas" anti-litter campaign that started in the 1980s.

The message is a clear message to Democratic governors to push their states to counter Texas redistricting with new maps of their own to add more democratic seats.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has already said California would look to mid-term redistricting to add more democratic seats if Texas follows through with the plan.

In Los Angeles, a banner that reads "Texas GOP power grab rigs elections" was spotted above a freeway.

Other states, like New York, have also talked about redrawing their lines in response to Texas.

FBI could get involved with Democrat round-up

Texas House Democrats left the state Monday in an attempt to prevent a vote on the new congressional map.

Civil arrest warrants were signed for members who went to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday said his request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to get involved with locating Texas Democrats was approved by Director Kash Patel.

What they're saying:

"We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities," Cornyn said.

Efforts to remove Democratic members of the Texas House.

Tuesday night, Gov. Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit asking the Texas Supreme Court to remove Texas Democrat Caucus Chair Gene Wu from office.

Abbott filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court of Texas for Wu's removal, citing his Sunday promise to attempt to do so for Democrats who left the state to prevent redistricting efforts. 

Abbott said Sunday that if the Democrat lawmakers were not back in office by the time the House reconvened Monday at 3 p.m., efforts to remove them would begin. Wu's removal is the first official attempt to be made.

The lawsuit claims that Wu's actions as the state House's party leader, along with other Democrats who broke quorum, are an abandonment of their office. According to the governor, this justifies their permanent removal from their positions.

In a statement, Wu said denying a quorum in the House was not an abandonment of office, but an upholding of his oath to the office, which he said did not belong to him or Abbott and instead belonged to the voters in his district.

"To Governor Abbott: You have failed the people of Texas, and you are using the courts to punish those who refused to fail with you," Wu said. "My purpose has been clear from the start: to serve my constituents and fight for what's right, no matter the cost. You will find that my commitment to the people of Texas is unbreakable."

Texas redistricting effort

Dig deeper:

The newly proposed map increases the number of congressional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points by five.

Republicans currently control 25 of the state's 38 Congressional districts.

The new map makes some big changes in North Texas. It moves Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey’s district from Tarrant to Dallas County, Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson’s district moves from Dallas and Collin County to more conservative sections of East Texas, and Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas seat becomes one of just two majority Black districts in the entire state.

The Democrats claim the redrawn maps will violate the federal Voting Rights Act, but that may be difficult for them to prove.

In Central Texas, Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett would find their districts vastly different from the current map.

The district currently held by Casar would no longer include Travis County, while the district held by Doggett would no longer include a portion of Williamson County.

In Houston, the new map reshapes four currently Democrat-held districts. The biggest change to the districts would be in the seat currently held by Rep. Al Green. The new map would shift the district from covering southern Harris County and instead move it to the eastern part of the county.

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