If those conditions are met, the Texas House Democratic Caucus said Democratic lawmakers will return to the Texas House.

At a Fight the Trump Takeover rally in Millennium Park, Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House minority leader, accuses the state's GOP of trying to rig the system and says his colleagues who fled the state are trying to stop Republicans from taking away everyone's voting rights.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday called a second special session to push through a redrawing of congressional maps to secure up to five more Republican seats in the US House.

The leader of Democrats in the Texas House said the battle over redistricting, which could determine control of Congress, is likely to continue in the courts.

"It's imperative at this moment to use every tool that we have to fight back," Isaiah Martin, a candidate running in Texas's 18th congressional district.

Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to block controversial new congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump are planning a return to the state early next week, shifting tactics so they can fight the plan in court.

Former President Barack Obama waded into the debate over redistricting in a zoom call with Texas House Democrats on Thursday, warning of a “systematic assault on democracy” spurred by Republican efforts to redraw congressional maps in Texas.

After leaving the state to block the G.O.P. from redrawing the state’s congressional maps, Democratic lawmakers are keeping the pressure on from afar.

Texas Democrats have 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.

The new Texas maps are causing quiet discord among House Democrats in danger of being displaced.

Trump's push for states to redraw political maps and create more GOP-friendly House seats in time for the 2026 election has raised the stakes.