Texas Democrats hold the line from hotel rooms as Abbott promises arrests

About two-dozen Texas Democrats huddled around a monitor inside a hotel auditorium just west of Chicago Monday to watch as their Republican colleagues gaveled back into session and threatened “consequences” for their mass departure.

Minutes later, as they stared at their phones, Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the ordering of their arrest. The atmosphere, according to a person in the room, remained tense while the bell rang to call the session to order but turned more defiant and boisterous during the speakers’ remarks and press conference.

More than a thousand miles away in Austin, Texas, the Democrats who didn’t flee the state hunkered down for the final 15 days of a special legislative session set to end Aug. 19. They gathered to address, in part, a mid-decade redistricting proposal pushed by President Donald Trump.