Texas House Democrats returned to their state Monday after spending two weeks in the Chicago area and other parts of the country to prevent the Republican majority in their legislature from passing a new gerrymandered congressional map aimed at eliminating five Democratic seats.
The Democratic lawmakers left the Lone Star State on Aug. 3 to avoid a vote on the remap during a special legislative session called by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott ostensibly to provide relief measures following the deadly July Fourth floods that killed more than 100 people in Texas’ Hill Country. But when it became clear the remap efforts were also on the Republican agenda, Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives sought refuge in blue states such as Illinois, New York and Massachusetts to deny the GOP the quorum needed to enact the unusual mid-decade redrawing of Texas’ congressional districts.
The special session ended Friday, though Abbott has called a second special session to pass the GOP-favored 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 state Rep. Gene Wu, leader of that state’s House Democratic Caucus, said in a news release. “We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left.”
Though Wu and the other Democrats have declared their walkout a success, there was also an inherent acknowledgment Republicans will ultimately succeed in passing the remap. The Texas Democrats said the quorum-break spurred action in other blue states and drew national attention to their cause.
“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 legislators across the country how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses,” Wu said.
The Republican remap efforts are being done at the behest of President Donald Trump, whose administration is encouraging similar actions in other Republican-led states as a means of holding the GOP’s slim majority in Congress following next year’s midterm elections and for the remainder of Trump’s second term.
In a news release Monday, the Texas Democrats noted how California, New York, and other blue-leaning states are moving forward with their own plans “to block manipulated gains Trump may seek.” After a meeting with Texas House Democrats, California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced legislation that would move a mid-decade redistricting effort in California to flip five congressional seats Democratic in hopes of offsetting the Texas Republicans’ efforts.
Typically, political maps are redrawn only once per decade following the federal census, and Texas Democrats have called out Republicans for trying to change the rules and disenfranchise Texas citizens for purely political reasons.
After the Texas Democrats’ return was announced Monday morning, protesters in Austin praised the Democrats’ efforts before Republican Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows declared that “a quorum is present” and the body could get down to business.
The 150-member Texas House has 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats, with at least 100 members required to be present for a quorum call to conduct legislative business.
“Restoring a quorum was my first responsibility as speaker and has been accomplished,” Burrows said. “My responsibility now is to keep this quorum intact and to maintain an atmosphere of order and respect until the job is finished.
“No one here needs a reminder that the last few weeks have been contentious. But from this point forward, the rules of engagement are clear: Debate is welcome but personal attacks and name-calling will not be tolerated,” he continued. “Members, the House has been through a tumultuous two weeks. But this institution long predates us. It will long outlast each of us. Representatives come and go, issues rise and fall, but this body has endured wars, economic depressions and quorum breaks dating back to the very first session.”
The Texas House adjourned Monday without taking a vote on the remap effort. But a bill was read into the record “relating to the composition of the districts for the election of members of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Texas” and referred to the Texas House’s Committee on Congressional Redistricting. Among the sponsors of the bill is GOP state Rep. Katrina Pierson, who once served as the national spokesperson for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The special session will resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Following the walkout, Burrows issued civil warrants nearly two weeks ago demanding the Democrats return to Texas. But because they were civil and not criminal and issued by a legislator and not a judge, the civil warrants were mostly symbolic. That, however, didn’t stop Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from trying to get an Illinois judge to compel law enforcement here to find the Democratic lawmakers. That effort failed.
On Monday, Burrows said the civil warrants remained in effect for any legislators still absent from the session. For those with warrants issued against them who had returned by Monday, those lawmakers “will be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated (Texas Department of Public Safety) officer appointment under the rules of the House, who will ensure your return Wednesday at 10 a.m.,” Burrows said.
Democratic state Rep. John Bucy of the Austin area said in a statement Monday he had not returned to the Texas Capitol because he’s “focused on ensuring California passes its own maps, which they must do by this coming Friday to ensure they nullify Trump and Abbott’s power grab in Texas.”
“The spark we lit in Texas has become a fire across the country. I could not be prouder of the House Democratic Caucus for taking this bold step to defend our democracy. As we take this fight back to Texas, I remain committed to doing whatever I can to stop these extreme, racist maps,” Bucy said. “The fight for democracy does not end here — we have only just begun.”
While Gov. JB Pritzker has said there are no current plans for Illinois’ Democratic legislative majority to call for remapping Illinois’ congressional map, he hasn’t completely ruled out the option.
He’s also defended hosting the Texas Democrats over their last two weeks in suburban Chicago, noting how he has been talking to them since late June about how he’d support them if they chose to leave Texas to prevent a Republican-majority vote on new maps. Pritzker reiterated that support on social media Saturday evening.
“For the past few weeks, the fight has been here in Illinois, as we provided safe haven for members enduring threats of violence and arrest. Thanks to them, the world knows what’s happening in Texas and Democrats have a plan to push back,” Pritzker said on X. “I am ready, just as I was during that first conversation, to stand with them and with every American fighting to preserve this country that I love.”
Comments