Texas Senate Passes New Congressional Maps

The Texas Legislature passed a new GOP-drawn congressional map early Saturday that is designed to net Republicans in Congress up to five additional House seats, capping off a weeks-long sprint to redraw districts in the party’s favor at the request of President Donald Trump.

The legislation was approved by Republicans along party lines in the state Senate after clearing the House. The measure now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), who has vowed to swiftly sign it into law.

“The intent of all district changes were to make sure that we had a legal map, one that performed better for Republicans, and hopefully improved compactness in some districts,” state GOP Sen. Phil King, who authored the Senate version of the bill, said during hours of floor debate with Democrats, who one by one peppered him with questions and criticism before passage.

Democratic lawmakers and aligned groups are expected to quickly file legal challenges once Abbott signs off on the new map, and blue states like California have already taken steps to counter Republicans with partisan redistricting efforts of their own.

Senate passage came two days after the Texas House passed the redistricting bill 88-52. The votes, which came during a special legislative session called by Abbott, followed a two-week standoff featuring Democrats fleeing the Lone Star State to deny the Republican-dominated House the required quorum to operate.

“While Democrats shirked their duty, in futility, and ran away to other states, Republicans stayed the course, stayed at work and stayed true to Texas,” Abbott stated Wednesday. “I will sign this bill once it passes the Senate and gets to my desk.”

Trump, following the Wednesday House vote, called the new map a “big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!!”

“Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself,” he posted on Truth Social. “Texas never lets us down.”

After returning from Democratic states like California and Illinois that harbored those who fled, Democrats were allowed to leave the chamber on Monday pending a final vote only if they agreed to be in the custody of a state Department of Public Safety officer. One Democrat, state Rep. Nicole Collier, refused. Instead, she remained in the chamber until it reconvened on Wednesday.

The redistricting saga, initiated by Trump and carried out by Texas Republicans, alters current districts in ways that could safeguard U.S. House Republicans’ slim majority in next year’s midterms. But it’s kicked off a nationwide mid-decade redistricting war between red and blue states over what is typically a once-a-decade process that follows the decennial U.S. census.

However, retaliation efforts by Democrats in other states like California are likely to prove far harder than in Texas, where Republicans had the power to redraw districts in a more partisan fashion. In Democratic-led California, the process is controlled by an independent commission, a hurdle Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and state Democrats are attempting to circumvent by putting new maps in front of voters for approval in a November special election.

“You will now go down in history as one of Donald Trump’s most loyal lapdogs,” Newsom posted of Abbott on social media. “Shredding our nation’s founding principles. What a legacy.”

In a subsequent post, he wrote: “It’s on, Texas.”