Actually derailing the redistricting effort, which was one of nearly 20 items added to the special session agenda by Gov. Greg Abbott, would be a herculean lift fraught with risk for legislative Democrats. Delaying the process with a walkout would require strong participation by most of the party's caucus, and could carry steep financial costs.

More than 20 years after launching mid-decade redistricting, the Lone Star State is back in the middle again. It’s easy to forget these days, given the more than three-decade dominance of Republicans in Texas, that Democrats began 2004 with a majority of the state’s delegation to the U.S. House.