Texas House Democrats who fled the state to stall a Republican redistricting plan have signaled they’re ready to return to the Lone Star State in the coming days. The Texas state legislature wrapped up its first special session on Friday,

There is no guarantee Democrats can prevent the Republican-powered redistricting. But it’s a notable turn for a party that, by its own leaders’ admissions, has honored conventional rules and bypassed bare-knuckled tactics.

For weeks, Texas Democrats have been doing everything in their power to draw national attention to a radical Republican plan to try to hang on to the House of Representatives in next year's midterms by gerrymandering the state's already heavily skewed maps even further.