As speaker, Phelan oversaw passage of numerous conservative priorities, but he gave up the gavel under pressure from the far right over the House’s impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The measure is a response to the dozens of children who died at Camp Mystic and other youth camps in the Texas Hill Country during the July 4 flood.

Texas House Democrats returned to the Capitol this week, touting their two-week quorum break as a success “beyond their wildest dreams” and pledging to advance the fight against a redistricting bill that could net Republicans five congressional seats in next year’s midterm elections.

The new map, ordered up by President Donald Trump and endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, would wipe out five Democrat-held congressional districts

Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier has now spent over 24 hours on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.

The redistricting fight heats up in Texas House as lawmakers prepare to vote on new mid-decade redistricting maps while Democratic activists voice their disapproval.

More Texas House Democrats spent the night at the state Capitol in Austin in support of Rep. Nicole Collier, who wasn’t allowed to leave the building after she refused to consent to a police escort. Texas House Republican leaders would only allow Democratic lawmakers to return to their homes if they signed waivers allowing law enforcement to shadow them until a vote on redistricting Wednesday.

A Democratic lawmaker is staying in the Texas Capitol rather than accept an around-the-clock police escort that Republicans imposed to keep she and her colleagues from leaving the state again.