by Texas’s Austin (AP) As part of a nationwide party spat over President Donald Trump’s ambition to alter U.S. House maps to his benefit, Texas Democrats on Monday put an end to a two-week boycott that had halted Republican attempts to redraw congressional districts.
As California Democrats push new congressional borders in revenge, the Republican-run Legislature will be in a position to meet Trump’s requests after they return to Texas, where state police will escort the lawmakers to ensure they don’t depart again.
Before the 2026 midterm elections, the two most populous states in the country are at the focus of a growing battle for control of Congress as a result of the tit-for-tat. Following internal divisions and dissatisfaction among the party’s supporters since Republicans seized complete control of the federal government in January, the fight has brought Democrats together across the country.
In order to prevent their Republican colleagues from attending the vote on altered boundaries that would send five more Texas Republicans to Washington, dozens of Democratic lawmakers from Texas departed for Illinois and other states on August 3. After Texas Republicans adjourned their first special session and Democrats nationwide mobilized against Trump’s ploys, they announced triumph on Friday. They especially cited California’s proposal, which would have eliminated any prospective Republican gains in Texas by giving Democrats a five-seat majority in the U.S. House.
A number of missing Democrats boarded a charter bus to the Capitol after departing Chicago early Monday and landing hours later at a private airfield near Austin. Inside, they were met by cheering supporters. And when lawmakers briefly reassembled, the Texas House floor was nearly full for the first time since Trump’s redistricting campaign grew into a national issue.
While promising quick movement on the Legislature’s agenda, Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows made no mention of redistricting on the floor.
The majority is entitled to win. The speaker asserted that the minority had the right to be heard. We’ve finished waiting.
According to his office, Texas Department of Public Safety officers will now track missing members around-the-clock to assure their continuing attendance. Burrows previously filed civil arrest warrants for them under House rules.
Democrats acknowledged that Republicans can proceed with redrawn districts and declared triumph.
In a prepared statement, House Minority Leader Gene Wu stated, “We destroyed the corrupt special session, resisted unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and mobilized Democrats across the country to join this existential fight for fair representation, reshaping the entire 2026 landscape.”
Democrats would take the new designs to court, Wu said. Of Texas’s 38 U.S. House seats, 25 are currently held by Republicans.
Lawmakers were not expected to return until Wednesday, and they did not take up any issues on Monday.
In response to Trump’s pressure on other Republican-run states to think about redistricting, Democratic governors in several statehouses have said they will follow California’s example. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has announced that his state would have a special vote on the reconfigured districts on November 4.
In order to prevent a recurrence of the midterm elections from his first term, the president wants to support Republicans’ slim House majority. Democrats used their majority to block his agenda and impeach him twice after taking control of the House in 2018.
Democrats are within three seats of a majority on a national level due to the political composition of the current district lines. Only a few dozen districts are competitive out of the 435 House seats. Therefore, the party that gains control could be impacted by even small changes in a few states.
After the census, redistricting usually takes place once every ten years. Texas is one of many states that grant lawmakers the authority to create maps. Another obstacle for Newsom is that California is one of the states that gives the responsibility to independent commissions.
On Monday, Democratic lawmakers unveiled updated maps of California. Following the 2020 census, it was the first formal step toward the fall referendum, which asked voters to override the independent commission’s findings. Through 2030, the existing boundaries would be replaced with the proposed ones. After that, Democrats promised to give the commission back its authority to create maps.
Lawsuits over the Democratic move were promised by state Republicans.
Of California’s 52 U.S. House seats, 43 are held by Democrats. By focusing on battlefield districts in Northern California, San Diego and Orange counties, and the Central Valley, the idea would attempt to increase that edge. Increasing the number of left-leaning voters in their districts would also help certain Democratic incumbents.
Democrat Marc Berman, a member of the California Assembly and a former chair of the elections committee, stated, “We didn’t choose this fight, we don’t want this fight, but we cannot run away from this fight with our democracy on the line.”
Similar to Democrats in Austin, Republicans voiced their disapproval, accusing the majority of power abuse in both minority caucuses.
Republicans in Sacramento announced plans to present legislation supporting independent redistricting commissions in every state.
State Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares stated that this is neither a Republican, Democratic, or Green Party fight. The people’s voice is at issue here.
Following Trump’s instructions, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott added redistricting to an original special session agenda that covered a variety of problems, most notably a package responding to terrible floods that killed over 130 people last month. This was the beginning of the growing dispute.
Abbott has attributed the delay in implementing those policies to the absence of Democrats. Because Abbott insisted on successfully connecting the nonpartisan disaster assistance with the hyperpartisan issue, Democrats have responded that Abbott bears responsibility.
In an attempt to get Democrats to return, Abbott, Burrows, and other Republicans used a variety of threats and legal strategies. For example, the governor said that Texas judges ought to remove lawmakers who were not present from office.
Burrows obtained civil arrest warrants for politicians, but they were out of state and hence out of reach. Law enforcement did not detain the Democrats who returned on Monday. The first obvious stage of the planned monitoring, however, was the plainclothes police’ escort of them from the Texas House following Monday’s session.
For each parliamentary day that they missed, the departing lawmakers might be fined up to $500. Democratic lawmakers, Burrows has emphasized, would also pay for state troopers and other others who tried to stop them during the walkout.
From Atlanta, Barrow reported. From Sacramento, California, Nguyen reported.
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