Texas House Democrats will end their weeks-long standoff Tuesday and return to Austin.
Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives fled to Democratic strongholds like New York and Illinois to block a special session on redistricting, a move that could have given Republicans multiple new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The lawmakers claim they achieved their goals by derailing the first special session and drawing national attention to the Republican-led effort, according to ABC 13.
While the exact date of their return remains unclear, Democrats say they will prioritize Hill Country flood relief once they resume work. Their decision comes as the House again failed to reach a quorum Tuesday, with only 95 members present for the second consecutive day. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said that if the stalemate continues through Friday, the current session will end, and a new one will begin.
The Texas Senate approved the new congressional map in a 19-2 vote after nine Democratic senators left the chamber, according to the Texas Tribune. The map would shift the districts of Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar, Greg Casar, Al Green, and Julie Johnson into areas that former President Donald Trump carried by at least 10.4% in the 2024 election.
Republicans now control 219 seats in the U.S. House, while Democrats hold 212, with four seats unfilled. On Friday, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a court to declare the absconding House Democrats’ seats vacant, accusing them of staging an “out-of-state rebellion.”
Republicans have defended their proposed maps by pointing to aggressively drawn Democratic maps in other states. After the 2024 elections, California sent 43 Democrats and nine Republicans to the U.S. House, up from 40 Democrats and 12 Republicans after the 2022 midterms, according to Ballotpedia. (RELATED: Watch As Texas Dems Throw Tantrum, Storm Out Before Losing Redistricting Vote)
In New York, Democrats overhauled congressional boundaries following the 2022 midterms, creating a map that put as many as six of the state’s 11 Republican-held seats at risk. By the end of the 2024 elections, Democrats controlled 19 seats to Republicans’ seven, a net gain of three, after winning a special election triggered by the expulsion of Republican New York Rep. George Santos.
Illinois Democrats also redrew district lines before the 2022 midterms, eliminating two Republican seats, including that of then-Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. The state, which lost a seat after the 2020 census, shifted from 13 Democrats and five Republicans to 14 Democrats and three Republicans in its House delegation, Ballotpedia reported.
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