Texas Democrats announce plan to return after leaving state in redistricting clash

CHICAGO - Texas Democrats on Thursday moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP’s redrawing of U.S. House maps before the 2026 election and put them under escalating threats by Republicans back home.

Texas Democrats to return to state

What we know:

The Democrats announced they will return so long as Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal, both of which were expected to happen Friday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday stood with other prominent Democratic leaders to announce that the state would move forward with their own map proposals.

The California map would only take effect if Texas and other states move forward with their own redistricting efforts, and they would remain through the 2030 elections.

Texas House Democrats said in a statement that, under the advice of legal counsel, they needed to return to the state to "build a strong public legislative record" for an upcoming legal battle against a new map.

What they're saying:

"Texas House Democrats broke quorum and successfully mobilized the nation against Trump's assault on minority voting rights," said Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu. "Facing threats of arrest, lawfare, financial penalties, harassment, and bomb threats, we have stood firm in our fight against a proposed Jim Crow congressional district map. Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we're prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts."

What we don't know:

Democrats did not say what day they might return.

What's next:

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott still intends to push through new maps that would give the GOP five more winnable seats before next year’s midterm elections.

Earlier this week, Abbott said he will call special sessions until the new maps pass. 

Texas redistricting effort

Dig deeper:

The newly proposed map increases the number of congressional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points by five.

Republicans currently control 25 of the state's 38 Congressional districts.

The new map makes some big changes in North Texas. It moves Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey’s district from Tarrant to Dallas County, Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson’s district moves from Dallas and Collin County to more conservative sections of East Texas, and Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas seat becomes one of just two majority Black districts in the entire state.

The Democrats claim the redrawn maps will violate the federal Voting Rights Act, but that may be difficult for them to prove.

In Central Texas, Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett would find their districts vastly different from the current map.

The district currently held by Casar would no longer include Travis County, while the district held by Doggett would no longer include a portion of Williamson County.

In Houston, the new map reshapes four currently Democrat-held districts. The biggest change to the districts would be in the seat currently held by Rep. Al Green. The new map would shift the district from covering southern Harris County and instead move it to the eastern part of the county.