Democratic state Representative Nicole Collier spent the night in the Texas Capitol building rather than agree to a police monitor amid a contentious partisan struggle over redistricting that is part of President Donald Trump's campaign to keep the national House of Representatives in Republican hands.

After a weekslong standoff, Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to slow a Republican plan to redraw voting maps have returned to the state's capitol. Republicans wasted no time passing the new congressional maps out of committee and barred the Democrats from leaving the chamber without a police escorts assigned to watch them around the clock.

A Democratic Texas lawmaker has chosen to spend the night in the state House chamber to avoid being shadowed by law enforcement.

Democratic lawmakers who fled their state to stymie Republican plans to redraw political maps at the behest of President Donald Trump announced on Monday they were "returning to Texas on our terms," as the battle lines harden 15 months before the U.

The Texas House gaveled in at noon with Democratic members present, marking an official end to the quorum break.

"It's imperative at this moment to use every tool that we have to fight back," Isaiah Martin, a candidate running in Texas's 18th congressional district.

Texas Republicans now face a clear path to redraw the state’s congressional maps after state House Democrats ended their 15-day walkout and returned to the Capitol on Monday.

Dozens of Democrats are returning to Texas, ending a two-week impasse with Texas Republicans over efforts to redistrict the state.

Texas Democrats say they are ending a two-week walkout that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts to satisfy President Donald Trump’s demands for a greater