The risks are big for Texas Democrats — from $500-a-day fines, to extradition, to the more unlikely scenario of Abbott replacing them with hand-picked legislators, to facing civil arrest for violating the Legislature’s rules. They do not, however, face any civil or criminal charges and can only be forced back into the Capitol to take votes.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered Democratic lawmakers to be brought back to the state capital after they left Texas in a bid to prevent voting on a Republican plan to redraw the state's congressional districts.

Texas Republicans returned to the Capitol without Democrats, who fled to block a vote on a GOP-drawn congressional map.