Approximately two dozen Texas House Democrats returned to Austin on Aug. 18, ending a two-week walkout over a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
After calling the House to order with the two-thirds quorum needed to conduct official business, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said lawmakers would “move quickly” on dozens of bills, which include the redistricting legislation, flood and disaster response proposals, THC regulations and a plan to overhaul the state’s standardized testing system. Those bills were approved by state senators during the first special legislative session, but were not sent to the governor’s desk due to the House quorum break.
The overview
House Democrats’ walkout delayed the passage of the proposed congressional map, which Republicans have said is designed to flip up to five Democratic-held U.S. House seats during the 2026 midterm elections. Legislative leaders cut the first special session short on Aug. 15, and quickly launched a second one, which will last up to 30 days.
Democrats have decried the redistricting plan as “intentionally racially discriminatory,” arguing that it would “dilute” minorities’ voting power by splitting up certain communities. Texas Republicans have said the map is aimed at allowing Texans to “elect more Republicans to the U.S. Congress,” asserting that race was not considered when the new lines were drawn.
Although Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats declared their protest a success, noting that they raised awareness about the redistricting plan and “inspired” Democratic-led states to consider retaliatory redistricting efforts.
“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said in an Aug. 18 statement. “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.”
On Aug. 14, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state would hold a Nov. 4 special election on a new congressional map that was drafted in response to Texas’ redistricting plan.
What’s happening
Burrows said it was time for lawmakers to “get to work” after Texas Democrats returned Aug. 18.
“This is a chamber where the majority has the right to prevail and the minority has the right to be heard,” he said from the House dais. “We are done waiting; we have a quorum—now is the time for action. We’ll move quickly, and the schedule will be demanding until our work is complete.”
Burrows previously told House members he hoped to complete the 19-item special session agenda by the end of August.
Shortly after the House adjourned Aug. 18, a committee sent several flood-related bills to the full chamber. The House redistricting committee was scheduled to discuss the congressional map at 5 p.m. Aug. 18. Those bills could be heard on the House floor later in the week. State senators, meanwhile, were scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Aug. 18 after Senate committees advanced 18 bills over the weekend.
House Democrats who broke quorum and returned Aug. 18 would be accompanied by state troopers “around the clock” until the House reconvenes at 10 a.m. Aug. 20, Burrows’ office said. Democratic lawmakers signed permission slips allowing them to leave the chamber until that time, and each was assigned a Texas Department of Public Safety officer.
Rep. Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, said he wished House leadership would take Democrats “at their word—if I say I’m coming back, then I’m coming back.”
“We’re here to do the right thing, and we’re going to make sure that America continues to see the fact that I have a police escort, a DPS escort,” Romero told reporters after the House adjourned Aug. 18.
At least 100 House lawmakers must be present for the 150-member chamber to vote on bills—120 members were in the chamber Aug. 18.
Democrats said they intended to build a “legal record” against the proposed congressional map during legislative hearings and on the House floor. Wu said he was confident that Texas courts would deem the map unconstitutional.
“We have high confidence that the court will actually find these maps to be illegal—the question is more about the timing of it and whether or not there’s enough time left,” he told reporters. “There’s a reason Republicans did this in the special session and not the regular session, because that would have provided [the courts] more time.”
To appear on the March primary ballot, Texas candidates must file by Dec. 8, according to the secretary of state’s office—meaning an updated congressional map would need to be adopted before then.
The background
While Democrats were out-of-state, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the state Supreme Court to vacate the seats of 13 House Democrats, whom they said had abandoned their constituents by leaving the state.
Democrats asserted that they were abiding by the Texas Constitution, which both allows lawmakers to break quorum and gives House leadership “the authority to physically compel the attendance of absent members,” according to a 2021 legal opinion by Chief Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Blacklock.
The Texas Supreme Court gave Abbott, Paxton and the Democratic defendants until Sept. 4 to file briefings in the removal cases. As of press time, it was unclear whether House Democrats’ return would impact Abbott and Paxton’s lawsuits.
Burrows said Aug. 15 that quorum-breaking Democrats would be responsible for paying “every dollar of expense” the state accrued as a result of the quorum break. Under House rules, members who intentionally break quorum are subject to daily $500 fines and required to cover the costs of “securing [their] attendance.”
House leadership issued civil arrest warrants for absent members Aug. 4 and 15. Burrows said those would “remain in force” for Democrats who did not return Aug. 18.
This story is developing and will be updated.