A second special session that has made approving the map a priority started Friday, shortly after the first one ended.

The Republican-controlled Texas legislature is expected to pass a new congressional map creating five new winnable seats for the GOP at the behest of President Donald Trump.

The Texas House reached a quorum Monday after dozens of Democrats who left the state to block the vote on a GOP-favored congressional redistricting plan returned to Austin. The Democrats were asked to sign "permission slips" so they could be escorted by state troopers to ensure they would return when the session reconvenes Wednesday,

A group of Texas Democrats are returning to the state House in Austin, where they will spend the night on the statehouse floor — the latest step in broader protest over Republican plans to redraw cong

A partisan move by Texas to redraw its congressional maps in the middle of the decade to secure five more GOP seats in the U.S. House set off a clamor to replicate the effort in statehouses controlled by both parties.