The Texas House of Representatives once again failed to reach a quorum Friday morning, as Democrats continued their weeks-long taxpayer-funded vacation to block Republican-led redistricting legislation.

The Democratic boycott has paralyzed the chamber and stalled critical measures — including disaster relief for flood victims — but GOP leaders are making clear the standoff will not end on the Left’s terms.

Just minutes after the House adjourned without action, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a second special session beginning at noon, promising to push through Republican-crafted maps that strengthen Texas’s congressional delegation and give voters fair representation.

“The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans,” Abbott said earlier this week. “There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them.”

Abbott made his position crystal clear:

“I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”

The new maps, already passed by the GOP-controlled Texas Senate, would add as many as five Republican-friendly districts while reducing the influence of entrenched Democratic strongholds. Democrats, realizing they cannot win at the ballot box, fled the state for Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts in order to deny the House its two-thirds attendance requirement.

Their obstruction has halted unrelated legislation as well, including desperately needed flood relief in Hill County, where catastrophic flooding last month killed more than 130 Texans.

Texas Democrats have admitted they intend to drag the battle into the courts. Rep. Gene Wu, their caucus leader, vowed Thursday:

“Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts.”

Abbott has asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove Wu from office, while Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to oust 13 additional Democrats. Lawmakers who refuse to show up are also facing fines of $500 per day.

The redistricting fight comes as Republicans hold a razor-thin U.S. House majority, 219–212. Texas’s new map is part of a broader effort to prevent Democrats from reclaiming the House in 2026, as they did in 2018 during President Trump’s first term.

In a revealing counter-move, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday he would pursue a rare midterm redistricting in his own state to add five new Democrat-leaning districts. Newsom accused Texas Republicans of trying to “rig the system,” saying, “We will meet fire with fire.”

But Republicans note California is already one of the most aggressively gerrymandered states in the country. GOP voters are consistently underrepresented in the Golden State, making Newsom’s threat little more than political theater.

Meanwhile, an attempt to legally compel Texas Democrats to return has fallen flat. Illinois Judge Scott Larson rejected enforcement of civil arrest warrants issued in Texas, ruling that his court lacked jurisdiction and could not force nonresident lawmakers to comply.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Wu, leaning on racial politics, accused Abbott of pushing “racist maps that silence more than 2 million Black and Latino Texans.” On Wednesday he declared:

“The First Called Special Session will never make quorum again.”

Abbott fired back on X, formerly Twitter, blasting the absent Democrats’ long-distance boasts as pathetic:

“Come back and fight like Texans rather than running and hiding like cowards.”

At stake is far more than just lines on a map — it’s whether Texas will be governed by elected lawmakers willing to do their jobs, or by Democrats who would rather flee to blue-state havens than face voters back home.