Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Wu, center, speaks with the media following a press conference with other Texas House Democrats and Democratic members of Congress at the Democratic Party in Warrenville, Ill., Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. Nam Y. Huh/AP

Texas House Democrats are returning to Austin on Monday morning, ending a 15-day walkout that delayed, but is unlikely to derail, a congressional redistricting plan designed to protect the Republican majority in Congress after the 2026 midterms.

Most of the Democratic members, who are outnumbered 88-62 in the Texas House, are expected to land in a chartered jet at the same Austin airstrip they left from on Aug. 3. Their absence denied the House the two-thirds members required to make up a quorum and allow the chamber to function.

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With their return, Republicans in the state Legislature are expected to quickly take up and pass the new map that creates five more winnable Republican districts, which would give the party 30 of Texas’ 38 seats in Congress.

House Democratic leader Gene Wu, in a statement, acknowledged the perilous consequences for his party as the new session gets underway.

“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” Wu of Houston said. “Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire legislators across the country how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses.”

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While the quorum-break angered the state Republican leadership and is likely to result in the absent members being fined, the Democrats’ holdout did serve to nationalize the debate. And it prompted Democrat-run California to begin the process of changing its own congressional boundaries to offset any GOP gains extracted from Texas.

“Facing constant threats to your safety, jobs, and livelihoods, you stood firm and showed the country that this is a new Democratic Party — one that no longer brings a wagging finger to a knife fight, but rather a party that will continue to press for what’s right and for our shared Democratic values,” Ken Martin, the chairman of the National Democratic Party said in a letter Monday to the Democratic members obtained by Hearst Newspapers.

The letter describes the quorum bust in heroic terms for a Democratic Party that is not only outgunned in Texas, but also on the national stage. With President Donald Trump in the White House, Republicans control all the levers of power at the federal level even as Democrats are hoping to flip the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the U.S. House in the coming midterms.

“Others will now pick up the torch so you can focus your attention on continuing this fight in Texas and in the Courts,” Martin said in his letter.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who called the first special session that ended Friday without action on any legislation and immediately called a second 30-day session, has heavily criticized the Democrats’ decision to flee. He has initiated steps to have Wu removed from office, accusing the Houston lawmaker of abandoning the seat.