(TEXAS TRIBUNE) - Without support from Democratic lawmakers, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows would not have secured the gavel earlier this year.

Soon, the Lubbock Republican may no longer need them. Or he might need them more than ever.

Texas Democrats’ departure from the state to deny the lower chamber enough members to conduct business is creating the latest pivotal moment for the first-term speaker, imperiling — or at least dragging out — his party’s push at the behest of President Donald Trump to redraw congressional district lines to net more GOP seats.

But it is not just Trump’s approval or wrath that could hinge on how Burrows meets the moment. As news broke Sunday that Democrats were leaving the state, some of the speaker’s fellow Republicans — inside the Capitol and out — ur

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