AUSTIN, Texas — (AP) — Texas Democrats ended a two-week walkout Monday that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts as part of a national partisan brawl over President Donald Trump's desire to reshape U.S. House maps to his advantage.
Their return to the Texas Capitol — which will now involve escorts by state police to make sure the lawmakers don't bolt again — puts the Republican-run Legislature in position to satisfy Trump's demands as California Democrats separately advance new congressional boundaries in retaliation. The tit-for-tat puts the nation's two most populous states at the center of an expanding fight over control of Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The battle also has rallied Democrats nationally after infighting and frustrations among the party's own voters since Republicans took control of the White House and Capitol Hill in January.
In Texas, dozens of state House Democrats left the state Aug. 3 to deny their Republican-majority colleagues the attendance necessary to vote on redrawn maps intended to send five more Texas Republicans to Washington. After spending nearly two weeks in Illinois and elsewhere, they declared victory when Republicans adjourned their first special session on Friday and Democrats around the country rallied in opposition to the Trump-led gerrymandering effort. They pointed specifically to California's release of proposed maps intended to increase Democrats' U.S. House advantage by five seats, effectively neutralizing any Republican gains in Texas.
Many of the absent Democrats left Chicago early Monday and landed hours later at a private airfield in Austin, where several boarded a large charter bus to the Capitol. Once inside, they were greeted by cheering supporters. And for the first time since Trump's redistricting push accelerated into a national issue, the Texas House floor was near full capacity when lawmakers convened briefly Monday afternoon.
Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows did not mention redistricting on the floor Monday but promised swift action on the Legislature’s agenda.
“The majority has the right to prevail. The minority has the right to be heard,” the speaker said. “We are done waiting.”
Burrows had previously issued civil arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers under House rules, and his office said Monday that Texas Department of Public Safety officers will follow the previously departed lawmakers around the clock to ensure that they return again.
Cheering supporters greeted returning lawmakers inside the Capitol before the House convened for a brief session.
“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 Minority Leader Gene Wu said in a written statement.
Wu has promised Democrats would challenge the new designs in court.
The House did not take up any bills Monday and was not scheduled to return until Wednesday.
Trump has pressured other Republican-run states to consider redistricting, as well, while Democratic governors in multiple statehouses have indicated they would follow California's lead in response. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that his state will hold a Nov. 4 special referendum on the redrawn districts.
The president wants to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms during his first presidency. Democrats regained House control then and used their majority to stymie his agenda and twice impeach him. On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing district lines puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. Of the 435 total House seats, only several dozen districts are competitive. So even slight changes in a few states could affect which party wins control.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott added redistricting to an initial special session agenda that included a number of issues, but most notably a package of bills responding to devastating floods that killed more than 130 people last month.
Abbott has blamed Democrats' absence for delaying action on those measures. Democrats have answered that Abbott's capitulation to Trump is responsible for the delay because he insisted on effectively linking the hyper-partisan matter to the nonpartisan flood relief.
Redistricting typically occurs once at the beginning of each decade to coincide with the census. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among those that empower independent commissions with the task, giving Newsom an additional hurdle in his bid to match or exceed whatever partisan moves Texas makes.
Abbott, Burrows and other Republicans tried various threats and legal maneuvers to pressure Democrats' return, including the governor arguing that Texas judges should remove absent lawmakers from office for, in his words, abandoning their posts.
As long as they were out of state, lawmakers were beyond the reach of the civil arrest warrants that Burrows issued. The Democrats who came back to the chamber Monday did so without being detained by law enforcement. However, plainclothes officers escorted them from the chamber after Monday's session, the first visible step of the planned monitoring.
Additionally, the lawmakers who left face fines of up to $500 for each legislative day they missed. Burrows has insisted Democratic lawmakers also will pick up the tab for state troopers and others who attempted to corral them during the walkout.
California lawmakers were scheduled to convene later Monday.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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