Paxton urges Texas judge to jail Beto O’Rourke over fundraising related to redistricting fight

Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked a Texas district court judge to jail former Rep. Beto O’Rourke over his fundraising pitches connected to the state’s intensifying redistricting battle.

Paxton’s request accused the Texas Democrat of violating a court order that the judge, Tarrant County’s Megan Fahey, issued last week that barred fundraising by O’Rourke and his nonprofit Powered by People intended to bankroll the efforts by Texas Democratic lawmakers to derail the redistricting effort.

In support of his claim, he highlighted a remark O’Rourke made at a Saturday rally — a day after Fahey’s order — saying “there are no refs in this game. Fuck the rules.”

But an attorney for O’Rourke says Paxton’s characterization of O’Rourke’s remark was an “outright lie.” O’Rourke’s comment, she noted, was a reference to the broader nationwide fight over redistricting — a call for Democratic states to counteract Texas’ redistricting push by undertaking their own partisan redrawing of political boundaries.

“In their zeal I guess to intimidate a political rival, they are actually lying to the court,” said O’Rourke’s attorney, Mimi Marziani, who said she would quickly alert the court to the context of O’Rourke’s comments and her intention to seek sanctions against Paxton.

Paxton’s request to jail a political rival comes amid calls by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton and their allies to arrest dozens of Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to prevent Abbott from holding a special session to pass his ultra-partisan redistricting measure — one expected to net Republicans five seats in Congress.

Paxton’s motion to hold O’Rourke in contempt accuses him of raising funds to directly cover the expenses and fines of the dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers who bolted from the state to deprive Republicans a quorum to conduct legislative business. Fahey ruled that such fundraising would violate Texas laws against deceptive practices.

But Marziani emphasized that Fahey’s ruling was specific to raising funds that directly bankrolled the state lawmakers’ effort, as opposed to general political fundraising. O’Rourke, in court papers, has labeled Paxton’s bid to constrain his political activity “frivolous” and urged Fahey to transfer the case to his home base of El Paso.

“They have no basis for this lawsuit,” Marziani said.