Texas House Democrats return to the state Capitol, ending 38-day standoff

The Texas Capitol building in Austin.
(Image credit: Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

For the first time in 38 days, the Texas House reached a quorum on Thursday, after some of the Democrats who left in July to protest voting restrictions returned to the state Capitol.

More than 50 House Democrats fled Texas last month in order to ensure there wasn't a quorum, keeping the GOP-backed voting measure from passing. The Democrats traveled en masse to Washington, D.C., where they urged lawmakers to take action on federal voting rights legislation. Two of those Democrats came to the Texas state Capitol on Thursday afternoon, along with a colleague who had been out recovering from having his leg amputated, and having those three present was enough for the House to achieve a quorum.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.