Republicans in the Texas House forced returning Democrats to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor.

Republican lawmakers are expected to quickly pass new voting maps, but Democrats still say they were victorious in the standoff.

Texas Democrats are joining a colleague who can't leave the state Capitol because she won't agree to having law enforcement officers shadow her.

Texas Democratic lawmakers left two weeks ago to block a GOP plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts. They said they were returning now that California Democrats are adopting a counterproposal.

Democratic lawmakers who fled their state to stymie Republican plans to redraw political maps at the behest of President Donald Trump announced on Monday they were "returning to Texas on our terms," as the battle lines harden 15 months before the U.

"It's imperative at this moment to use every tool that we have to fight back," Isaiah Martin, a candidate running in Texas's 18th congressional district.

Texas Republicans now face a clear path to redraw the state’s congressional maps after state House Democrats ended their 15-day walkout and returned to the Capitol on Monday. In California, meanwhile,