The Texas Legislature gave final approval on Saturday to an aggressively redrawn congressional map that kicked off a redistricting race between the parties that is likely to affect the fight for Congress long before any ballots are cast in the 2026 midterm elections.
Gov. Greg Abbott has said he would sign the map into law once it reaches his desk.
The State Senate passed the map in a party-line vote just days after it was approved by the Texas House on Wednesday. The new lines on Texas’ congressional districts were drawn to deliver Republicans up to five U.S. House seats and help preserve the party’s thin majority.
“I’m convinced that if Texas does not take this action, that there is an extreme risk that that Republican majority will be lost,” said State Senator Phil King during the floor debate on Friday. He said at several points that he did not “look any racial data.”
“This map is legal in all respects,” Mr. King said.
Texas Democrats, who temporarily blocked the passage of the map with a walkout in the State House, said the newly drawn lines illegally diminished the voting strength of Black and Hispanic Texans. They have vowed to file suit against the map after it is adopted.
After more than eight hours of debate on Friday, a procedural motion by the Republicans denied the Democrats a chance to filibuster, moving the chamber to the final vote. The motion argued that a Democratic state senator who had planned to filibuster, Carol Alvarado, had promoted it as a campaign fund-raising event.
The bill passed on a vote of 18 to 11 just after 12:30 a.m. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for people in the gallery — who were shouting “shame” and “fascist” — to be removed. The Senate adjourned until Tuesday at 3 p.m.
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