Texas Democratic lawmakers said they had returned to the state Monday after a two-week absence that temporarily blocked Republican leaders from enacting a plan aimed at padding their party’s majority in the U.S. House, a move that sparked a national political firestorm over redistricting.
The legislators decided to end their standoff after they prevented Texas Republicans from passing a redrawn congressional map during a first special legislative session and after California Democrats countered with their own redistricting proposal. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a second special session, and with enough Democratic lawmakers now present in Texas, the GOP-controlled Legislature will be able to advance its new map.
“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation — reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a statement. “We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left. Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses.”
Texas Democrats, without any real legislative power, won praise nationwide from members of their party for delaying Republicans pursuit of a rare, mid-decade redistricting effort and raising awareness of the issue. The two-week quorum break has been costly, with the Democratic lawmakers facing a $500 fine for each day they were absent. And many faced security threats while away from their families.
Democrats began setting the stage for their eventual return last week, declaring victory Republicans’ decision to end their first special legislative session without a vote. They said their second condition to return was for California Democrats to release a plan that would seek to offset any changes Texas Republicans made to their map, which they did on Friday.
The more than 50 Texas Democrats left the state on Aug. 3, the day before the first special session began, leaving the state House short of the quorum needed to consider legislative business.
They received a heroes welcome from prominent Democratic governors in the states they decamped to, like Illinois, California and New York. The issue became a national rallying cry for Democrats, amid their argument that President Donald Trump and national Republicans were pursuing a power grab to insulate themselves from potential political peril in next year’s midterm elections.
But Republicans back in Texas were deeply critical of their colleagues. They authorized ceremonial civil arrest warrants against the fleeing members and docked them heavy fines. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Abbott sought court orders to remove more than a dozen of them from their seats. And Republicans then moved, in their absence, to consider legislation to respond to the devastating flooding outside San Antonio, accusing Democrats of shirking their responsibility to victims.
“Instead of confronting those challenges, some of our colleagues have fled the state in their duty. They’ve left the state, abandoned their posts, and turned their backs on the constituents they swore to represent,” House Speaker Dustin Burrows said on the House floor on Aug. 4 in response to the Democrats’ quorum break.
But Democrats have been fiercely critical of those accusations, arguing the Legislature could have dispatched with bipartisan flood relief first, and only waited to hold the issue as hostage to compel Democrats to return.
During Friday morning’s final meeting of the first special House session, the House had 95 of the 100 members necessary to move forward, meaning that it would take the return of a only few Democrats to allow the House to go back into session.
And the redistricting plan passed the state Senate last week over the protests of state Democrats. While most of the Democratic state Senators walked out during the debate over the bill, two remained, allowing the bill to pass.
