The Texas House’s quorum-breaking Democrats announced Monday that they are back in Austin, just hours before the House is scheduled to reconvene amid the state’s second special session.
With their return, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature will likely move quickly to pass a new map of the state’s congressional districts which could give the GOP as many as five new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But the Democrats stressed their return was not a defeat. Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, who chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said they are “returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans” than when they left.
That is mainly due to California Democrats now backing them up in the fight.
The Golden State has already put forward a new map for California that would cancel out any Republican gains in Texas. Democrats there say the change would only take effect if Texas Republicans go through with their own redistricting plans.
Exactly how Republicans will respond to the threat is unclear. Some Texas lawmakers have suggested the party’s response should be drawing even more partisan maps, giving the GOP as many as ten additional seats in Congress.
Texas Democrats have said they are prepared to build a legal challenge to try and defeat whatever map Texas Republicans pass. That would be the party’s last ditch effort to stop a new map from taking effect before the 2026 midterms.
