Judge blocks Beto O’Rourke from financially supporting Texas Democrats who left the state

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Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke cannot financially support Texas Democrats who left the state to delay passage of a new congressional map, a Tarrant County judge ruled Friday evening.

O’Rourke and his political group, Powered by People, were sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Friday afternoon. Paxton argued that the group was deceptively fundraising for and illegally helping support Texas Democrats as they fanned out to Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to deny the House the headcount needed to pass legislation.

Tarrant County District Judge Megan Fahey granted Paxton’s request for a temporary injunction, barring O’Rourke and Powered by People from fundraising for the Democrats or spending money to cover their expenses. The order came less than four hours after Paxton’s office filed the petition.

Fahey, a Republican, was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2019 and has twice been reelected to the bench.

In her ruling, Fahey agreed with Paxton’s contention that Powered by People engaged in false, misleading or deceptive fundraising practices, and by distributing funds to Texas Democrats, writing in the ruling that the group either “directly violates or causes Texas Democratic Legislators” to violate state law and House procedures.

The group cannot use political funds to pay for travel or accommodations for “unexcused Texas legislators during any special legislative session called by the Texas Governor as consideration for a violation of such legislators’ Constitutional duties.”

O’Rourke filed his own lawsuit against Paxton Friday in El Paso district court. He alleged that the attorney general was engaging in a “fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned,” and asked the judge to block Paxton’s investigation into the organization’s practices.

In a statement responding to the injunction, O’Rourke said Paxton was trying to “make examples out of those who fight so that others won’t.”

“Paxton is trying to shut down Powered by People, one of the largest voter registration organizations in the country, because our volunteers fight for voting rights and free elections, the kind of work that threatens the hold that Paxton, [President Donald] Trump and Abbott have on power in Texas,” O’Rourke said.

Paxton responded on social media: “Cry more, lib.”

The lawsuit against O’Rourke and his group is part of a larger effort to drag Democratic lawmakers back to Texas. President Donald Trump demanded that Texas redraw its congressional map to yield five additional seats to shore up the GOP’s slim majority in the U.S. House ahead of the 2026 midterms. With few tools to stop the map’s passage through the Republican-dominated Legislature, Democrats called on their one failsafe, leaving the state to deny quorum, or the minimum number of members required for the chamber to function.

Typically, the majority party issues arrest warrants for the absentee members — which can only be enforced within state lines — and waits until quorum is restored. But this time, Republicans have gone on the offensive, filing lawsuits to cut off financial support; asking Illinois courts to enforce Texas’ civil warrants; investigating members and donors for bribery; and, in an unprecedented move, asking the Texas Supreme Court to expel lawmakers who left.

“The Beto Bribe buyouts that were bankrolling the runaway Democrats have been officially stopped,” Paxton said in a statement. “Today, I stopped his deceptive financial influence scheme that attempted to deceive donors and subvert our constitutional process. They told me to ‘come and take it,’ so I did.”

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