Texas House Democrats who fled the state to stall a Republican redistricting plan have signaled they’re ready to return to the Lone Star State in the coming days.

The Texas state legislature wrapped up its first special session on Friday, one of the conditions the Democrats gave for ending their quorum break. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) quickly called a second special session, with Democrats’ anticipated return set to clear the way for the Texas House to move forward with an aggressive gerrymander that could net five more House seats for the GOP in the midterms.

But the quorum-breaking Texas Democrats are touting the national attention they’ve brought to the redistricting fight and looking for hope from California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vowed to move forward with his own new map.

Here’s what to know as Democrats plan to end the standoff:

Why now?

It was always highly unlikely that Texas Democrats would be able to permanently thwart the GOP’s redistricting effort. But by fleeing the state, they hoped to raise national attention over the issue and inspire Democrat-led states to move forward with their own new maps.

In both cases, they succeeded.

The Texas Democrats’ decision to leave made the redistricting battle a national story. And now California is moving forward with its own effort to rewrite its congressional lines in the hopes of counteracting the Texas GOP. Other blue states may soon follow.

The Texas Democrats also wanted to hold out until the first special session came to an end, which it did on Friday. They cited both that and California’s decision to move forward with redistricting........

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