The Texas Legislature began a new special legislative session Friday after Gov. Greg Abbott called lawmakers back to deal with congressional redistricting and a host of other issues — laying down a new gauntlet for Democrats who fled the state nearly two weeks ago to halt a vote on a new district map.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at Millennium Park Saturday afternoon to rally against redistricting efforts in Texas that could give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats in next year’s midter...

“This is not just about Texas or Texans,” Plesa said in front of a battery of television cameras. “This is about the pillars of democracy as we know it.”

An elections expert said on Sunday that the Texas Republican Party made a "critical" admission about their redistricting efforts, which could cause their efforts to backfire. For the last month, the Texas GOP has tried to pass a new election map that would eliminate five Democrat-controlled seats.

California Democrats on Friday finalized their plan to snatch five GOP House seats next year by redrawing the state’s congressional lines, according to a copy of the new House map and other documents...

“This is about more than drawing lines on a map. It’s about drawing a line in the sand to stop Texas and Trump from rigging the election,” state Senate Democratic leader Mike McGuire said in a statem...