The second session is set to consider the same agenda that stalled in the first, with redistricting and disaster response at the top of the governor’s priorities.

The third-term governor appears determined to win any battle — even if it means scorched-earth primary crusades or trying to boot duly elected legislators from office.

In a statement, the House Democratic Caucus said its lawyers had advised returning “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” against the GOP’s map.

The contest would unearth brewing Democratic tensions over age and experience, forcing Austin politicos to choose between two well-liked progressives.

Judge Scott Larson ruled that the Texas speaker and attorney general had “failed to present a legal basis for the court” to take up the issue.

Republicans believe population increases in red states, such as Texas, would offset losses from not counting immigrants who lack legal status.

In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor ask University of Houston law professor David Froomkin to help them break down the legal cases seeking to remove 13 Democrats from the Texas House.

Democrats' absence has halted work in the Texas House, which must also approve the new boundaries, for more than a week.

In a dramatic turn of events, Texas Senate Democrats staged a walkout on Tuesday, challenging Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to prioritize redistricting over urgent flood relief for the state’s devastated communities.

The leaders of both chambers said they would adjourn for the session Friday if Democrats do not return, while the governor said he might add more items to his agenda.

The governor and attorney general have asked the court to find that Democratic lawmakers abandoned their seats when they left Texas to delay a new congressional map.

Since Democratic lawmakers left Texas to delay Republicans’ new map, state leaders have challenged the limits of traditional democratic norms to break the impasse.

The order came at the request of Attorney General Ken Paxton, who O’Rourke accused in a separate lawsuit of going on a “fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned.”

Gov. Greg Abbott previously asked the court to expel Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic leader. Paxton disputed the governor’s authority to make the request.

The Democratic state lawmaker has inquired about Senate television ad rates, two sources told the Tribune.

Democrats concede there’s only so much they can do to keep Texas from redrawing its maps. But they want to encourage blue states to retaliate.

The attorney general is calling on the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says states should typically honor each other’s judicial proceedings.

In response to Texas Democrats blocking the quorum needed for redistricting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, and Attorney General Ken Paxton are turning up the heat—threatening legal action and seeking federal help to bring the lawmakers back.

"We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities," U.S. Senator John Cornyn said in a statement.

While the Democrats could technically derail the GOP’s redistricting map, such efforts have been largely symbolic and had limited success blocking past legislation, experts say.

A tweet by Sen. Mayes Middleton questioning if Houston lawmaker Gene Wu was "back in China" sparked backlash amid a Democratic walkout to block GOP redistricting plans.

The situation is an opportunity for the speaker to bolster his credibility with the right, but he has limited tools to combat a prolonged Democratic absence.

In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor speak with state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, about her and her colleagues’ decision to flee the state, the potential financial and criminal penalties and her opposition to the state’s proposed new congressional map.

Legal experts say it’s “inconsistent with the Texas Constitution” to argue that leaving the state to halt legislative action qualifies as abandoning an office.

The former El Paso congressman also contributed to House Democrats’ 2021 quorum break. A PAC backed by Democratic donor George Soros is also involved in this year’s effort.

As a political chess match wages on against Texas lawmakers and an attempt to block a vote on a “rigged” congressional redistricting map, officials with the Democratic National Convention are joining the effort in Illinois.

The warrants apply only within state lines, making them largely symbolic as most of the legislators in question decamped to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

In a dramatic escalation of opposition to redistricting efforts led by Republicans in Texas, the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus have expressed strong support for their House counterparts, who have denied quorum in protest of a proposed congressional map they call “rigged” and disenfranchising.

The lawmakers’ absence means the lower chamber won’t have enough members present to function, stalling passage of a draft map Democrats have condemned as a political power grab.

Texas Republican lawmakers have released a draft of the state’s new congressional map, igniting controversy across the state.

The first draft of the lower chamber’s new redistricting map targets Democratic members of Congress in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas.

The money could be used to cover the $500-a-day fines lawmakers would incur under House rules set to discourage members from absconding after Democrats fled the state in 2021.

Democratic members slammed the process, questioning why hearings were happening before maps were available for review. Chair Cody Vasut said follow-up public hearings will be scheduled once maps are filed.

At the first of at least seven hearings, members of the public aired grievances about the unusual mid-decade redistricting effort.

State lawmakers are moving forward with efforts to redraw congressional maps a move that’s sparking both political controversy and public pushback ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The governor eventually agreed to include redistricting on his special session agenda after discussing the matter with the president on a phone call.

The Texas Capitol is buzzing as the legislative special session officially begins. Lawmakers were called back to Austin on orders from Governor Greg Abbott to address pressing state issues.

With few options to prevent the Republican majority from passing a new congressional map, Democrats threatened to filibuster, delay hearings and even break quorum.

Lawmakers will have 30 days to tackle a packed agenda outlined by Gov. Greg Abbott, from flood relief to redistricting to THC products.

Texas lawmakers start a 30-day special session July 21. They will tackle consumable THC, flood dangers, new congressional districts, abortion pills and other conservative priorities.

Members of Congress from Houston are pushing back against a special legislative session called by Governor Greg Abbott.

The plan would shift voters from safely red districts into blue ones. Members of the state’s Republican delegation aren’t sold on the idea.

The proposal would require the Texas Legislature to return for a special session to carry out the rare move of reshaping the state’s political boundaries mid-decade.

The Biden administration had challenged a Republican-led redistricting plan that diluted the political power of minorities. Other legal challenges will continue.

In Texas, who’ll run the state is usually decided in the primary. Because of gerrymandering and noncompetitive elections, few people participate.

Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, found the county districts denied Black and Latino voters “the equal opportunity to participate in the political process.”

The coastal county faces a drawn-out trial over claims of intentional discrimination in its 2021 redistricting of commissioners court precincts. The only district in which Black and Latino voters could meaningfully influence elections was dismantled.

The high court left intact a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act in a case many feared would go the other way. The decision’s importance in ongoing litigation over Texas’ political maps will largely be felt in what didn’t happen.

The 150 districts didn’t change, but the vote ensured the House met its constitutional requirement to approve new maps in the first regular session following formal publication of the 2020 census results.

The vote ensured the Senate met its constitutional requirement to redraw districts in the first regular session after publication of the 2020 census results.

After redistricting, the state constitution requires senators to draw lots to determine which half of the chamber will have four-year terms and which will have two-year terms. This keeps Senate district elections staggered every two years for the rest of the decade.

The redistricting process this year is mostly procedural and is not expected to produce very different results from the most recent process completed in 2021.

All 15 seats of the State Board of Education are up for grabs in November, and one race in District 7 highlights how critical race theory has become a key issue.

The Republican-drawn maps largely serve to bolster the party’s dominance. The maps are being challenged based on various claims, including intentional discrimination, vote dilution and racial gerrymandering.

Republicans dismantled the only Galveston County commissioners precinct in which voters of color held political clout. It’s a major blow for Black and Hispanic voters who had been building political momentum.

Texans who don’t vote in primaries and primary runoffs are missing a chance to choose who goes to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Thanks to the political maps drawn by lawmakers last year, only a handful of those contests will be competitive in November.

See the full list of candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary runoffs, and find out who’s on your ballot based on where you live.

Powell, a Democrat, had won Senate District 10 by winning over a coalition of diverse voters in Tarrant County. The GOP redrew the district to branch out to counties to the south and west that made it more rural and more white.

As Texas defends against accusations that its new political maps are discriminatory, it’s laying the groundwork to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out longstanding Voting Rights Act protections.

Texas has a history of a dismal turnout rate in primary elections. This year’s turnout was higher than the last six midterm primaries. Still, less than 1 in 5 registered voters participated.

The redrawn state Senate District 10 splits Black and Hispanic voters in Tarrant County. A full trial on whether GOP lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color is expected later this year.

A three-judge federal panel is hearing arguments in a lawsuit claiming that Texas Republicans violated the Voting Rights Act when they redrew state Senate District 10 in Tarrant County to lessen Black and Hispanic voting power.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, is the favorite to return to Congress via Texas’ 37th District, while Republican Wesley Hunt is the leading contender in the 38th District.

With less than five weeks left in the primary election season, there is no shortage of political issues to debate. But most of the political conversation isn’t about the election.

Challenges to new Texas laws on voting, political districts and abortion are all pending in court, as is the state’s challenge to federal vaccine mandates. But until the courts rule, those laws remain in place — and they provide political fodder for the incumbents who support them.

The Texas 2022 primary will take place March 1. See the full list of candidates statewide and find out who's on your ballot based on where you live.

In 2021, the Tribune’s data visuals team helped tell the biggest stories affecting Texans. Here’s a roundup of our most impactful work.

Dallas-area Latinos hoped their growing numbers would finally translate into political clout this year through the creation of a new congressional district anchored by their communities. Instead, their neighborhoods were splintered between numerous white-majority districts.

Texas’ population has grown 40% this century, and 91% of the new Texans are people of color. Federal judges now have to decide whether those monumental changes are reflected in the state’s political maps.

Texas lawmakers illegally discriminated against voters of color by drawing new political districts that give white voters more political power despite rapid growth of Hispanic and Black populations, the department claims in its lawsuit.

For Texas voters, fear of an insecure border consistently overshadows other issues — electric grid failures, handgun regulation, abortion access — even when those things top the news.

Inside a packed room earlier this month, Galveston County residents gathered to speak in opposition to proposed new precinct maps.

Asian and Pacific Islander populations surged in Texas over the past decade, but their political power is weakened under new congressional maps. A northwest Houston neighborhood offers a case study in how that was done.

Lucio is retiring from the Rio Grande Valley seat, and Dominguez wants to continue his legacy of focusing on education in the region. But he suggested he would take a different approach to at least a couple issues, including abortion.

The Rio Grande City lawmaker was the least liberal Democrat in the Texas House this year, according to a political scientist’s rankings of lawmakers.

Republican incumbents enter their reelection campaigns well ahead of their Republican challengers and with most voters unacquainted with the Democratic challengers in the field, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

The Mexican American Legislative Caucus is arguing that the new state House map violates the Texas Constitution. The lawsuit follows two legal challenges to the state’s new maps previously filed in federal court.

In Texas, the Legislature draws political maps — with results that predictably favor the party in power. Do independent commissions do any better?

Ordaz Perez announced she will challenge Fierro after new political maps forced her to run against another incumbent if she wanted to seek a new term. Democrats have criticized the GOP-drawn House map for diluting the El Paso area's representation.

The new political maps drawn by Texas Republicans have run into some criticism from academics studying gerrymandering. That puts the Texans in the same boat with Illinois Democrats.

The new political maps drawn by the Texas Senate don't just favor Republicans; that much was expected from a Republican majority. The maps help Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pick which Republicans he wants in the Senate.

After conservative complaints about the national results in the 2020 election, Texas Republicans have tried to anticipate everything that might play against them in 2022, right down to who’ll be at the helm.

Houston Newsmakers: Redistricting is a near miss for Jackson Lee

The redistricting process in the GOP-dominated Legislature made many political districts less competitive, which some experts believe might hurt civic engagement.

This year’s elections will take place using newly redrawn political maps for the state’s congressional, House, Senate and Board of Education districts. Search your address to see how the new districts will affect your community.

The fast-growing region likely will see a considerable number of new state and federal lawmakers after the 2022 election. And in many cases, they will be representing districts whose boundaries have significantly shifted.

On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Alexa, James and Patrick about the end of the Texas Legislature’s third special session and whether there will be a fourth.

The controversial issues you’ve heard Texas lawmakers debate for most of the year aren’t going away; many of them will be argued all over again during the 2022 elections.

With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office says there’s no plan for a fourth special session at this time. If this was the final special session of the year, what did we learn from it?

After a few last-minute alterations, the state's new congressional districts are drawn and await the scrutiny of federal courts. Already, one lawsuit has been filed claiming the new maps intentionally discriminate against Latino voters.

Before they’re even signed into law, the state’s new maps for congressional and statehouse districts have been challenged in federal court by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The Austin Democrat, who has served in Congress since 1995, currently represents the 35th District, which stretches down to San Antonio. He will run in the newly created 37th District located in Travis County.

“Turn Texas Blue” was the Democratic rally cry in the 2020 elections. It didn’t happen, and with the maps the Texas Legislature is drawing, it’s not in the cards for 2022, either.

The redistricting plans for the House, Senate and State Board of Education were approved Friday.

The likely new district comes as Texas Republicans continue to try to make new inroads in South Texas after the 2020 election.

The GOP is losing its hold on suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth as they grow more diverse. Two new districts show how far the party is reaching to entrench rural, white electoral power.

Members considered more than 50 amendments to the proposed map during debate that began Tuesday and ended early Wednesday. Some of the biggest changes focused on Dallas and Harris counties.

The doughnut district would be in Bell County, a traditionally red area that has trended blue in recent years as the diverse community around the nation’s biggest military installation grows.

In this week’s TribCast, Matthew speaks with Alexa and Reese about the ongoing court fights over Texas’ new abortion law and the redistricting process in Texas.