AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — ABC13 has confirmed with multiple sources that House Democrats will return to Texas.
Eyewitness News has not confirmed the date, but we do know that Democrats believe they’ve accomplished their mission by killing the first special session and by raising national awareness about the mid-decade redistricting effort.
It is unclear which day they will be in Austin at the Capitol, but they stress that they will push for Hill Country flooding relief to be the priority.
After our initial reporting online and on television, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Caucus sent the following statement to ABC News:
“Members are still assessing their strategies going forward and are in a private meeting to make decisions about future plans currently,” he wrote. “If and when Texas House Democrats breaking quorum decide to go home is squarely dependent on the actions the Governor, Speaker, and Texas Republicans in charge make with regard to prioritizing flood victims over redistricting that hurts Texans.”
As of 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 90 minutes after ABC13 first reported the move, nobody from the HDC had reached out directly to ABC13 to refute our initial reporting.
This comes as the House went another session without a quorum on Tuesday, with just 95 members present for the second day in a row. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said that assuming there is no quorum on Friday, the session will end, and a new one will begin.
Hours later, the Senate actually passed a new map that benefits Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. It’s the same map that passed out of committee in the House and precipitated more than 50 House Democrats to break quorum.
Democrats in the Senate walked out in protest, but a quorum remained. Sources told ABC13 that Senate Democrats will not break quorum.
RELATED:
This Week in Texas: Redistricting standoff in Austin and an effort to build political consensus
Texas governor threatens to remove Democrats who left state over Trump-backed redistricting
For updates on this story, follow Tom Abrahams on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Copyright © 2025 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.
