Texas Democrats Missing in Action

Published December 20, 2022 • Updated December 20, 2022

“Texas Democrats Missing in Action” playing cards published by Bernsen Consulting, Austin, Texas, 2003.

In May 2003 the Texas House of Representatives was brought to a standstill as 51 state Democratic representatives said they would remain in neighbouring Oklahoma "as long as it takes" to block a Republican-drawn redistricting plan that could cost them five seats in Congress and would give Republicans better odds of keeping control of Congress.

The walkout paralyzed the state House for four days. Republicans accused the Democrats of trying to thwart a redistricting plan and demanded that any legislator not present should be arrested and returned. The Democrats called the plan "an outrageous partisan power grab."

This pack was published by Bernsen Consulting, Austin, Texas and printed by Liberty. Similar to the Most Wanted cards issued to U.S. troops to help identify fugitive Iraqi leaders, images of the missing lawmakers are on each card with their name and county they represent. There is 1 joker and a separate information card explaining the event►

Above: “Texas Democrats Missing in Action” playing cards published by Bernsen Consulting, Austin, Texas and printed by Liberty, 2003.

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By Peter Burnett

United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022

I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.

• Russian Playing Cards

Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.

Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.