AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Democrats, who had left the state to halt an aggressive redistricting, returned to Texas and ended their two-week walkout Monday, paving the way for Republicans to pass a redrawn congressional map called for by President Donald Trump.

For the past two weeks, Republican leaders in Texas bristled at the Democrats' flight and took extraordinary steps to pressure them to return. Gov. Greg Abbott and the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, sued to try to remove the absent Democrats from office. Sen. John Cornyn got the FBI involved in locating them. The state House speaker, Dustin Burrows, issued civil arrest warrants and threatened to impose $500 daily fines under House rules.

But in the end, Democrats said they had decided to return only after they had denied a vote d

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