Democrats who fled Texas in order to slow Republicans’ plans to redraw voting maps say they have returned to the state capital “victorious”.
After a weeks-long standoff, the lawmakers said on Monday they are now “more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” and they will “build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court”.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has already called another session where legislators are expected to approve plans aimed at shoring up the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives in the 2026 election.
But Democrat-led states are now pushing to redo their maps in the hopes of offsetting those gains and possibly taking the majority.
Abbott had said that in “running and hiding from a fight”, Democrats also walked away from voting on other issues important to Texas, such as relief funds for areas hurt by deadly floods earlier this summer.
Gene Wu, chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said that he had upheld his duties in leading Democrats out of the state. That broke the legislature’s quorum, meaning there were not enough lawmakers present to hold a vote on the Republican plans.
The likelihood of them blocking the redrawing of districts was always low, but Democrats had said they would return to the Republican-majority state if two conditions were met: ending the special session and raising national awareness about the redistricting plans.
“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,” Wu said in a statement.
He also said his party is prepared to launch the next phase in their fight against gerrymandering – the redrawing of electoral boundaries to favour a political party. Democrats contend that the new Texas districts go against the 1965 Voting Rights Act, meant to prevent racial discrimination in voting, and the US Constitution.
The Texas legislature convened on Monday and a quorum was reached early on during the roll call – an announcement that was met with cheers. The roughly 30-minute meeting, though, ended without a vote on the redistricting bill.
Instead, Speaker Dustin Burrows Burrows focused on ensuring the Democrats would show up for votes in coming days.
He said Democrats, who were the subjects of arrest warrants issued on Friday, would be released into the custody of a designated public safety officer to ensure their return to the Texas chamber for its next meeting on Wednesday. They then had to sign written forms acknowledging their releases into the custody of the officers.
Hours later, President Donald Trump congratulated Texas Republicans on introducing a new bill for their “ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL CONGRESSIONAL MAP!” and pressed them in a social media post to “please pass this MAP, ASAP”.
Each member of the US House represents a district in their home state. The districts are typically set after after the US Census conducted every decade to account for the states’ population changes.
But Republicans and Democrats are now fighting to redraw the maps mid-decade, either to help or block Trump’s agenda. By changing the make-ups of the districts, each party hopes to capture more seats in the House.
California, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Maryland are among the Democrat-led states prepared to launch countermeasures to the Texas plan.
Last Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he would ask voters in his state to approve new maps ahead of the November 2026 elections, where voters will choose who to send to the House and Senate.
In California, voting maps are typically drawn by an independent commission but Newsom’s plan, if approved, is expected to give at least five additional congressional seats to Democrats, nullifying the five seats Abbott and Trump hope to gain in Texas.
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