Less than an hour after the Texas state Legislature’s special session ended Friday morning, some Texas Democrats said they would be leaving Illinois for home, ending their nearly two-week walkout to deny Republican counterparts a quorum to vote on mid-decade redistricting maps.
The announcement came as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a second special session starting Friday afternoon, which still had redistricting on the agenda.
Some Texas House Democrats on Thursday afternoon had said they would return home if the special session ended Friday, and when California introduced its own redistricting maps, which were expected Monday, meeting both their stated conditions. It was unclear how many of the caucus would return, though some vowed to stay.
Many of the Texas Democrats have been staying at a St. Charles hotel, which had been the site of bomb threats later deemed unfounded.
Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson, who represents parts of Houston, was among the first to say she was headed back to the Lone Star State.
“We broke quorum to protect the Constitution, to defend fair representation, and to stop a racist and rigged process in its tracks — and we succeeded,” Johnson said in an email statement Friday morning. “Now, with that session behind us, I’m returning to Texas to continue the fight — from the floor of the House. … What comes next is up to Governor Abbott.”
Texas House Democrats broke quorum with 2 goals:
✅ Kill the first Special Session
✅ Find partners in other states to neutralize Gov. Abbott’s mapsAs of this morning, the House is adjourned and California is committed to act if they must.
Soon, we’ll take this fight back… pic.twitter.com/FqL4vy4hlK
— Texas House Democrats (@TexasHDC) August 15, 2025
Abbott can call special sessions in perpetuity, meaning the Democrats will be facing the exact same fight they were two weeks ago with the threat of further sanctions upon return, and a GOP prepared to act to keep them in the state.
Not among those leaving was Texas state Rep. Josey Garcia, who told the Sun-Times Friday morning she had “no plans to leave this weekend.”
She said all options were on the table for her, including returning to battle Republicans during a second session, which was called shortly after the first ended, in person.
“Being there to fight through the second session is possible,” Garcia said. “[But] when we go back to Texas, we need people to understand why. In order to kill this legislation, we need to get it on the public record. … But we may also have to break quorum [again].”
Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek approval of redrawn districts intended to give Democrats five more U.S. House seats in the fight for control of Congress, though a map had yet to be released.
In California, lawmakers must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week after voting on the new maps. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers — enough to act without any Republican votes — and Newsom said he’s not worried about winning the required support from two-thirds of lawmakers to advance the maps.
Regardless, Garcia said the state legislators saw the walkout as successful in making it a national issue. The group of Lone Star Democrats had met with Indiana counterparts during their time in Illinois, who Garcia said are next to face what she and her fellow representatives have faced.
“Our focus was to kill the first special session,” Garcia said. “We had to make sure to sound the alarm. … [Indiana Democrats] are next on the chopping block.”
Contributing: AP