JUST IN: Democrats Fold After Week-Long Anti-Redistricting Stunt

Texas House Democrats indicated Tuesday that they will be taking steps to end their blockade of the Republican-dominated State House, which has been ongoing for more than a week.

After Texas Republicans advanced a redistricting map that would draw out five Democrat-controlled seats, Democrat lawmakers fled the state in order to block a vote. Under Texas law, two-thirds of state house members must be present in order for a vote to take place on any given piece of legislation.

While Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu said Democrats intended to hold out for as long as possible, he did concede Monday that the effort was running out of cash after a judge ruled that outside political action committees, namely one controlled by failed gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, could no longer fund the absent lawmakers.

“Yeah, we’re doing our absolute best to hold on, and it’s not easy. And like you all said before, we have lots of expenses, lots of fees. People are calling in bomb threats. People are threatening to use the FBI on us,” the Texas House Democrat leader told MSNBC. “We can’t go on, but we’re trying to buy enough time that other people come in and fight with us, and we’re asking all Americans and all Texans,” he went on to say after conceding that the effort was running out of funding.

Less than 24 hours later, multiple sources confirmed to ABC 13 Houston on Tuesday that the absent House Democrats will return to Texas after claiming that they accomplished their mission of killing the first special session called by Governor Greg Abbott. The special session is set to expire next Tuesday.

It is unclear exactly how many lawmakers will be returning, as multiple Texas State Senators skipped Tuesday’s vote to advance the legislation. Democrats lack the numbers to prevent quorum in the upper chamber, however, while only a handful of additional lawmakers are needed in the House given Republican holdings.

Earlier this week, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows indicated they would adjourn the special session by Friday if Democrats had not returned by then. Abbott has also drafted plans to immediately call a second consecutive special session and his indicated that additional legislative items may be introduced.

The strategy of fleeing the state in order to sabotage legislation introduced by the Republican majority has been tried by state Democrats before. The stunt was unsuccessfully pulled in 2003, while the most recent attempt came in 2021, when 50 House Democrats fled Austin in an effort to stall election integrity legislation introduced by Republicans.

Abbott responded by calling three consecutive legislative sessions, leading to the bill’s passage during the second one in August.