Texas Democrats who left the state to stymie Republicans over redistricting have returned to Austin, ending a two-week standoff over President Donald Trump’s plan to carve out five new GOP congressional seats.
Their return to the state means the Texas House now has the sufficient number of legislators needed to pass a new map benefiting the GOP. Democrats had used the gambit to stall legislative business and bring national attention to Republicans’ decision to pursue off-cycle redistricting ahead of the midterms.
In a statement, the Texas House Democratic Caucus said that members returned on Monday morning “to launch the next phase in their fight against the racist gerrymander that provoked a weeks-long standoff with Governor [Greg] Abbott and President Trump.”
The drama in Texas set off a national redistricting battle, most prominently with California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowing to retaliate against Texas Republicans by extracting an equal number of Democratic-leaning districts from California’s congressional map. Trump has also been pushing to take his redistricting plan to other Republican-led states, like Indiana and Missouri.
Texas Democrats debated how long to stay away from the state, but ultimately laid out two conditions for their return: that the legislature end its first special session and that California lawmakers introduce their own map granting Democrats five more seats to counter Texas. Both of those occurred on Friday, prompting the Texas lawmakers to start returning home.
By breaking quorum, the members racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. It also set off a legal fight brought by Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sought to remove some of the Democrats from office.
Aid for Central Texas flood victims was held up by the standoff. Republicans put redistricting first on the legislative calendar, ahead of disaster relief considerations — a move that Democrats called out as irresponsible. The GOP, in response, argued that Democrats were delaying that relief by remaining out of state.
Abbott had promised to continue calling special sessions after the first one ended, beginning with a second one that began on Friday — a move that added to the pressure he and other GOP leaders exerted on Democrats to end their protest.
