A charter bus full of the Texas House's quorum-breaking Democrats arrived at the Texas Capitol on Monday, just 30 minutes before the chamber reconvened amid the state's second special session.
"I feel victorious," state Rep. Mihaela Plesa said as she exited the bus. "We killed the first sham special session."
Their return marks the end of a two-week quorum break over Texas Republicans' plans to redraw the state's congressional maps in the GOP's favor before the 2026 midterm elections.
Now, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature will likely move quickly to pass a newly proposed map which could give the state's majority party as many as five new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Despite that, Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, who chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said he feels the quorum break was a successful one. That's mostly due to California's recent decision to redraw its own congressional districts to cancel out any Republican gains in Texas.
"The California maps helped change our options," Wu said. "Before, we were talking about the quorum break as the only way to defeat this. But now, with California providing a considerable margin of safety — that even if we fail in court — that the nation will be protected."
The redistricting push in Texas initially came at the behest of President Trump last month, with Gov. Greg Abbott adding the controversial issue to his already packed agenda for the state's first special session.
With the formerly absent Democrats' arrival on Monday, the Texas House was able to meet quorum for the first time in weeks and get the state's second special session started in earnest.
The first order of business for House Speaker Dustin Burrows was acknowledging the Democrats who had broken quorum.
"Members, the House has been through a tumultuous two weeks, but this institution long predates us and will long outlast each of us," said Burrows. "Let me also be clear about where we go from here. We are done waiting, we have a quorum. Now is the time for action. We will move quickly and the schedule will be demanding until our work is complete."
But if Democrats were hoping for a kumbaya moment upon their return, Burrows didn't seem in the mood. The Lubbock Republican told the chamber that members who "have not been present until today" would only be granted permission to leave "after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated DPS officer."
Democrats who spoke with The Texas Newsroom expressed disappointment that Texas Department of Public Safety officers would be used in this way.
"Instead of having a police officer on the streets — actually working on or taking care of crime and being on the beat — they want to send a police officer with each and every Democrat," said Rep. Ann Johnson of Houston.
Each returning Democrat had to sign a form acknowledging their release from the Capitol until the Texas House reconvened on Wednesday.
"I don't care about the permission slip, I care more that they are going to waste public safety resources to escort us when we voluntarily came back," Wu said.
Without the numbers in the House to block redistricting legislation, Democrats said they are focusing on flood relief legislation — and preparing to take the redistricting battle to court.
"We are coming back to pursue the legal option," Wu said.
The Texas Newsroom is a public radio journalism collaboration that includes NPR, KERA in North Texas, Houston Public Media, KUT in Austin, Texas Public Radio in San Antonio and other stations across the state.