Texas Democrats, who had left the state to halt an aggressive redistricting, were expected to return to Texas and end their two-week walkout today, paving the way for Republicans to pass the Trump-dictated redrawn congressional map. Via the New York Times:
For the past two weeks, Republican leaders in Texas bristled at the Democrats’ flight and took extraordinary steps to pressure them to return. Gov. Greg Abbott and the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, sued to try to remove the absent Democrats from office. Senator John Cornyn got the F.B.I. involved in locating them. The State House speaker, Dustin Burrows, issued civil arrest warrants and threatened to impose $500 daily fines under House rules.
But in the end, Democrats said they had decided to return only after they had denied a vote during a first special legislative session, a move that drew national attention to Mr. Trump’s push for a rare mid-decade redistricting and helped propel Democratic states to begin their own redistricting efforts.
On Monday, California state lawmakers were expected to move forward on a measure to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor Democrats and counteract the changes in Texas, a move championed by California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.