By Maiya Keidan and Brad Brooks (Reuters)
The standoff in Texas between Democratic lawmakers and their Republican counterparts took a turn on Monday when the Democrats returned to the Capitol, ending a strategic walkout that had interrupted the quorum required for a congressional map redesign.
Gene Wu, who is the Minority Leader of the Texas House and heads the state’s Democratic Caucus, expressed in a statement that their return was meant to spark a nationwide call to action among Democrats. He described their struggle as an “existential fight for fair representation.”
Despite this development, Texas Governor Greg Abbott had already initiated efforts to reconvene for a special legislative session on Friday, aiming to push through another attempt at redistricting that could ultimately secure five additional congressional seats for Republicans.
Former President Trump is optimistic that the new redistricting map could preserve the slim Republican majority in Congress during the upcoming midterm elections. However, this plan faces substantial opposition, with Democrats poised to retaliate.
In a related move, California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom shared a competing redistricting initiative on Thursday, proposing to secure five more congressional seats for Democrats in California.
Earlier in the month, Texas Democrats had left the state strategically, aiming to block critical voting on redistricting—while such walkouts have been employed in the past, they have not always s ded.
(Reporting by Maiya Keidan and Brad Brooks; Edited by Mark Porter)
