Democrats Return to Texas, Clearing Way for GOP to Draw New Map

The Washington Post

12:14 JST, August 19, 2025

Texas Republicans moved closer Monday to enacting a new congressional map designed to boost their chances in the midterm elections as Democrats ended a two-week boycott aimed at stalling the plan.

Soon after the Democrats returned, Republicans modified a proposed map that was already friendly to the GOP to make it even more favorable to their party.

With the Democrats back, Republicans, at the behest of President Donald Trump, plan to pass the new map by the end of the month.

In Washington, Republicans hold a 219-212 U.S. House majority with four vacancies, and a broad, national fight over redrawing districts could determine which party wins control next year.

The political fight in Texas has grown personal. Soon after Democratic lawmakers returned from their walkout, Republicans who control the state House told them on the floor of the chamber that they would not be permitted to leave without a police escort to ensure they would not flee the state again. Democrats were furious, with one lawmaker insisting she would instead spend the night in the statehouse to protest what she saw as an insult.

Republican leaders also announced a shift in the map as they began business Monday. This month, Republicans put forward a map that would give them an electoral advantage in up to five more seats in Texas, including the district of Rep. Al Green (D). The new version released Monday would push Green’s district even further to the right. A full analysis of the new map was not immediately available late Monday.

The Democrats who fled the state on Aug. 3 decided to head home after California Democrats announced they would redraw their map and give their party an electoral advantage in five additional seats, wiping out the potential GOP gains in Texas. Democrats in California on Monday unveiled their legislative package, which they are calling “Proposition 50,” a reference to all 50 states as they seek to nationalize their fight. Voters in the state will be asked to sign off on the new map in a special election this November if lawmakers approve the plan, as they intend to do this week.

“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” Texas state House Minority Leader Gene Wu (D) said in a statement as he returned.

Their decision to go back to the Lone Star State marked the latest chapter in an extraordinary nationwide partisan battle over the congressional map on which next year’s midterm elections will be fought. While U.S. House district lines are normally redrawn every 10 years after the census, the Trump-led mid-decade push to seize a greater edge in Texas has set off a multistate scramble from Florida to California that could have major implications in next year’s elections.

Trump, who this month said he’s “entitled” to more congressional seats, praised Texas’s proposed map Monday in a post on his Truth Social platform. “It is wonderful to see Republicans everywhere standing up to Save our Country,” he wrote.

In an effort to try to slow the Republican plans in Texas, dozens of state House Democrats left the state this month to prevent the chamber from having enough members present to conduct its business. The state constitution requires the state House to have at least 100 of its 150 members present to take action.

Republicans said Monday that they were determined to move ahead with redrawing the congressional map and responding to last month’s deadly floods.

“It’s time to resume the work … the people of Texas sent us here to do,” state House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) said. He added that “no one here needs a reminder that the last few weeks have been contentious,” and warned that members must remain civil.

“Now is the time for action,” said Burrows.

Texas lawmakers met Monday afternoon shortly after the Democrats landed in Austin, with 120 recorded as present and 30 as absent. Burrows told those who had left that they needed to have a police escort for the next two days if they wanted to leave the state Capitol.

State Rep. Nicole Collier (D) refused to go along with the demand and said she would stay in the building for the next two days. “Why do they have to keep beating us down?” she said in an interview. “They’re going to win. Why do you have to keep flexing on us?”

The Texas Democrats’ departure from this state this month kicked off a high-profile partisan showdown, with many decamping to Illinois, where Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed them and promoted their cause. Texas Republicans said Democrats were not attending to their duties and issued civil arrest warrants against them to try to bring them back. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed lawsuits to try to have some of the Democrats removed from office.

While enough Democrats returned for the legislature to resume its business, some said they were staying away and would continue to fight the new lines from afar.

“I don’t believe in moral victories or messaging victories – I believe in actual victories,” said state Rep. Jolanda Jones (D), who is running in a special election in November to replace U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner (D), who died this year.

Abbott has frequently criticized the Democrats who left the state.

“Texans deserve leaders who show up, not ones who abandon their duties,” he posted on social media last week.

The Texas state House is next slated to gavel in on Wednesday morning.

Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, praised the Texas Democrats for fighting the Republicans amid threats. “The Democratic Party is standing up showdown after showdown because you forged the path and exemplified what it means to fight,” Martin wrote in a Monday letter to the Texas Democrats.