AUSTIN — A group of Texas House Democrats left the state Friday after the first hearing on Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to redraw the state’s political maps descended into chaos the day before and ended with state troopers dragging a former congressional candidate out of the capitol in handcuffs. Fifteen members of the House Democratic Caucus headed for Illinois and California on Friday to meet with Democratic leaders there. In a statement to the Current, caucus members said they arranged the meeting to better understand how to combat the Lone Star State’s unconventional and rapidly unfolding redistricting effort.
