AG Paxton, former Rep. O'Rourke trade lawsuits in redistricting battle

AUSTIN - As the fight over Texas congressional redistricting goes on, Attorney General Paxton and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke announced lawsuits against each other Friday.

While the goal of O'Rourke's suit is unclear at the moment, Paxton's appears to have thrown a temporary wrench in the works of the former congressman's PAC. 

Paxton sues over ‘Beto Bribes’

What we know:

Earlier this week, Paxton announced an investigation into Powered by People, the volunteer voter organization backed by O'Rourke that has reportedly been funding the Democrats who left Texas to prevent a quorum. The lawmakers hope to keep GOP-backed mid-decade congressional redistricting of Texas from happening. Republican lawmakers hope the redrawing will add additional red districts to the state ahead of midterm elections. 

Lawmakers who leave the state while the chambers are in session can be fined $500 per day. Some organizations, like Powered by People, are believed to be covering those and other costs, so the legislators can remain outside state lines until the proposal dies. Paxton claimed the funding constitutes illegal bribery of lawmakers.

On Friday, Paxton first announced he'd filed an official lawsuit against O'Rourke and his PAC, attempting to prevent Texas Democrats outside the state from receiving further funding to fuel their effort. 

"Democrat runaways are likely accepting Beto Bribes to underwrite their jet-setting sideshow in far-flung places and misleadingly raising political funds to pay for personal expenses," said Paxton in his first release. "This out-of-state, cowardly cabal is abandoning their constitutional duties. I will not allow failed political has-beens to buy off Texas elected officials. I’ll see you in court, Beto." 

Beto returns fire

Shortly after the attorney general's announcement, O'Rourke posted to X, saying a lawsuit had been filed against Paxton in a state court. The former representative said he and his organization were "taking the fight directly to him."

What we don't know:

The goal of the returned litigation is not currently known.

FOX 4 attempted to find the lawsuit in Texas court filings, but has not yet been successful.

Paxton's request is granted

After O'Rourke's announcement, Paxton released another statement, saying a Texas district court had issued a temporary restraining order "halting all unlawful expenditures and fundraising while the litigation continues." The decision was made just hours after Paxton's suit was filed. 

This restraining order appears to be specifically against Powered by People's alleged funding, and likely does not affect similar efforts by other Democrat-supporting individuals and organizations. 

What they're saying:

"The Beto Bribe buyouts that were bankrolling the runaway Democrats have been officially stopped," said Paxton in his second Friday release. "People like Robert (O'Rourke) believe Texas can be bought. 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."

O'Rourke released a return statement after the court issued their order: 

"They want 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, Trump, and Abbott have on power in Texas.

"In addition to helping register hundreds of thousands of voters, our members have volunteered in other important ways, including picking up thousands of shifts at Texas food banks. During Abbott’s electricity grid failure in 2021, we made more than a million calls to connect seniors to warming centers and safety. We also purchased nearly a million dollars in supplies for Texans abandoned by their elected officials who were too busy fleeing to Cancun or letting their gas pipeline donors steal billions in illegal profits while hundreds of Texans were dying.

"Now Paxton’s filed a restraining order to try to take us out of the fight. He wants to silence me and stop me from leading this organization. He wants to stop us from fighting Trump’s attempt to steal the five congressional seats he needs to hang on to power.

"But I’m not going anywhere.

I plan on speaking at our rally to stop the power grab in Fort Worth tomorrow afternoon."

Paxton sues Texas Democrats

Dig deeper:

Earlier Friday, Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court to vacate the seats of 13 Democrat lawmakers who left the state to prevent a quorum. 

The move comes after the House again failed to reach a quorum on Friday. Paxton said earlier this week that he would seek the removal of Democrats who left the state if they did not return by 1 p.m. Friday.

Read More:

• Gov. Abbott files suit to remove House Democrat leader from office over quorum break
• 'Come and take it': Texas Dems in MA say they aren't scared of quorum break arrests
• 'Time for y'all to love America again': Texas Dems in Illinois call on Republicans to 'be brave'
• Texas representatives speak out against proposed redistricting map
• Texas redistricting: Rep. Casar holds protest outside Governor's Mansion
• Hakeem Jefferies joins Texas democrats to help fight redistricting effort
• Texas House committee advances redrawn congressional map
• Texas special session: Democrats threatened with arrest for breaking quorum

Texas PoliticsKen PaxtonNews