From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers flee the state to stop Republicans from passing a new U.S. House map that the GOP hopes could help it win up to five new seats in the 2026 midterms.

But how long can these fugitives from politics hold out?

And how credible are the Democratic threats to gerrymander, California, New York, and other states in response?

Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.

We are joined today by my colleagues, columnist Kim

Strassel and editorial board member, Manet Uquay-Brua. The gerrymandering wars have typically

been a once-a-decade phenomenon in the United States when states redraw congressional

districts using new census data. But given these polarized political times and the narrowness of the House,

Speaker Mike Johnson holding his majority there with only a handful of votes,

the battle lines are now being drawn here in 2025 for a bit of mid-decade gerrymandering kicked off by Texas.

But at the moment, Kim, that plan is on hold after

dozens of Democratic lawmakers left the state to deny the legislature a two-thirds quorum that it

needs. On Monday, the Texas House voted to track down those errant lawmakers with civil arrest warrants.

Let's listen to the House Speaker, Dustin Burroughs, in the session on Monday.

I am prepared to recognize a motion to place a call on the House and any other motions

necessary to compel the return of absent members.

Should such a motion prevail, I will immediately

sign the warrants for the civil arrest of the members who have said they will not be here.

As Speaker, I will do everything in my power to establish quorum and move this body forward,

by any and all means available to this office. To those who are absent, return now.

Show the courage to face the issues you were elected to solve. Come back and fulfill your duty

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