Texas House Democrats returned to Austin on Monday, ending a two-week walkout that had denied the chamber a quorum and stalled a mid-decade redistricting plan sought by President Donald Trump. Their presence gives the Republican-controlled House enough members to resume a second special legislative session that began at noon local time, clearing the way for passage of new congressional maps designed to create five additional GOP-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The Democratic caucus said the walkout achieved its goal of delaying the first special session and drawing national attention to what it calls an unconstitutional power grab. “We killed the corrupt special session,” Minority Leader Gene Wu said in a statement, adding that the party is prepared to build a legal record against the maps once debate resumes. Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who added redistricting to the special-session agenda at Trump’s urging, has vowed to keep calling lawmakers back until the proposal is enacted. The Texas Senate approved a version of the map last week and is expected to move quickly once the House restores a quorum, potentially sending the bill to Abbott within days. The showdown has fueled a nationwide partisan escalation. On Saturday, pro-democracy and labor groups staged more than 300 rallies in 44 states to oppose the Texas plan, while California Democrats unveiled a counter-proposal that could give their party five additional U.S. House seats, partly offsetting any Republican gains in Texas. The parallel efforts by the country’s two most populous states underline how control of a narrowly divided Congress is increasingly being shaped by aggressive, mid-cycle gerrymandering campaigns.