Texas has been the epicenter of Trump’s push to gerrymander congressional maps to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority before next year.

Republicans had warned they would escalate efforts to end the nearly weeklong holdout if defiant Democrats do not return to the state Capitol. But the Democrats who bolted for points across the country on Aug.

Texas Democrats again defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the state GOP and did not show up Friday for a vote on a controversial redistricting plan proposed by Republicans. The GOP-proposed new congressional maps that would give Republicans more seats in Congress -- potentially allowing the GOP to keep control of the U.