AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Five Texas House Democrats stood just outside the doors of the Texas House of Representatives Tuesday evening and ripped up the permission slips that allow them to leave the Capitol. It's a move to protest Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows' decision to have law enforcement escorts follow lawmakers around to ensure they arrive to the House chamber for a Wednesday vote.

Texas Democrats fled the state on Aug. 3 to prevent the House from reaching a quorum, which is the minimum number of lawmakers needed to conduct business. The drastic move was meant to raise awareness of a Republican-led effort to gerrymander the congressional maps in Texas to give Republicans an advantage to pick up five additional seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

A majority of the quorum-breaking

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