Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn asked the FBI to help return state legislators who fled ahead of a special redistricting session.

The special legislative session of the state House was called by Gov. Greg Abbott with the intent of pushing through new congressional maps. These Donald Trump-approved maps would favor Republicans and could potentially grow the state’s GOP delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections. State-level Democratic Party representatives fled to Illinois and New York earlier this week to deny the Texas House of Representatives a quorum. In a letter sent to FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday, Cornyn asked the federal authorities to step in and aid in the return of the absent lawmakers.

“In a representative democracy, we resolve our

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