Former Texas lawmaker Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke got in hot water with the leadership of Texas for his fundraising efforts in connection with lawmakers who have left the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Aug. 12 that he has asked a Texas district court judge to jail the former representative, as Breitbart News reported.

According to Paxton, O’Rourke is assisting the Texas lawmakers in violating a court order handed down by Tarrant County’s Megan Fahey, which banned fundraising by O’Rourke.

This is due to the fact that he made it plain that he planned to use the funds to support the derailing of the Texas redistricting efforts.

Case details

Paxton made his case partially on the grounds of a comment made by O’Rourke over the weekend at a rally, saying, “There are no refs in this game. Fuck the rules.”

This came the day after Fahey’s order banning his fundraising efforts.

An attorney for O’Rourke argued that Paxton’s assertions about her client were an “outright lie,” and that he was referring to the nationwide effort to redistrict.

“In their zeal I guess to intimidate a political rival, they are actually lying to the court,” O’Rourke’s attorney, Mimi Marziani said.

🚨 BREAKING: Texas AG Ken Paxton is holding Beto O’Rourke in CONTEMPT for violating a court order by continuing to fundraise for the runaway Democrat lawmakers

“Beto is about to find out that running your mouth and ignoring the rule of law has consequences in Texas. It's time to… pic.twitter.com/tg7mlCdgh7

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 12, 2025

Calls for federal investigation

This came shortly before a Senate Republican called on the Justice Department to investigate some of the groups connected to O’Rourke and high-profile financier George Soros.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) made a push for Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether O’Rourke’s Powered by People political action committee (PAC)and a Soros-linked Texas Majority PAC acted inappropriately.

Cornyn asked whether the pair had acted "in violation of federal public corruption and election laws" due to their fundraising for Texas Democrats.

The call to action

Cornyn wrote a letter to the attorney general, saying, “I write today to encourage an investigation of the entities funding this charade.

"News reports make clear that PACs tied to Beto O’Rourke and megadonors such as George Soros are supporting the legislators, along with other campaign entities."

The Democrats left a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott that could end in a mid-decade redistricting of the state's congressional districts.