The redrawn map shifts voters in Austin, Houston, North Texas and the Rio Grande Valley in hopes of creating five more Republican seats in the U.S. House.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Senate Democrats walked off the Senate floor and out of the chamber on Tuesday in protest as the upper chamber began debating a proposed new congressional map that aims to give Republicans more seats in the House of Representatives.
Nine Senate Democrats walked out. Two of the Senate Democrats, state Sens. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) and Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), stayed behind. The move was primarily symbolic, as after a short debate, Texas Republicans had enough support to pass the proposed new congressional map by a 19-2 vote in the upper chamber.
Even though it has cleared the upper chamber, the bills will likely die and not move forward in the House, which has been stalled for the last nine days since House Democrats broke quorum and fled the state. Without a quorum, the House can’t consider the bill.
Some of the senators, including Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) and Molly Cook (D-Houston), said they did not plan to return to the chamber to participate in debate on other bills, such as those related to the July floods, which killed more than 130 people and caused billions of dollars in damage across Texas. The Senate is expected to take up legislation that would improve early warning systems, expand emergency management licensing and training and streamline volunteer response.
State Sen. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) asked Senate President Pro Tem Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) if the upper chamber could take up the flood bills first before the redistricting, but Perry denied that, saying he wanted to save it for later in the day to end the day on a positive note.
State Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) said Senate Democrats protested the vote in solidarity with the House Democrats who broke quorum.
“We stand in solidarity with our House Democrat brothers and sisters,” Alvarado said. “Our options here to push back to fight in the Senate are pretty limited, so we are using every tool that we have to demonstrate our opposition.”
Senate Bill 4 is identical to the map proposed by the House. The push to redraw the congressional district map follows President Donald Trump’s urging of Texas Republicans to redraw the congressional districts to secure five more Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I’m not going to go back into that farce, into that room where nothing gets done today because they would rather do Donald Trump’s bidding,” Gutierrez said. “They would rather be Donald Trump’s lapdog than do what is necessary for the people of the state of Texas.”
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) said lawmakers should be focused on addressing the deadly flooding or Monday’s mass shooting in Austin, not the mid-decade redistricting. Three people, including a child, were killed in a shooting in the parking lot of a Target on Research Boulevard in North Austin on Monday afternoon.
“Who are we serving with redistricting? Ourselves?” Eckhardt said. “We have a lot of work to do to serve Texans who are desperate for flood relief and red flag orders against this national nightmare of mass shootings.”
Senate Redistricting Committee Chair State Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford) made clear that the driving force in how they drew the new districts was political performance.
Based on the proposed new map, President Trump would have won 30 of the state’s 38 congressional districts in the 2024 presidential election by at least 10 percentage points.
“In contrast to the complications involved with race-based redistricting, this map is built on political performance, which is a well-established and permissible basis for drawing electoral districts as recognized firmly by the Supreme Court of the United States,” King said. “Race was not used to draw the map, and I did not consider race when I filed this bill, and I have not looked to any racial criteria with regard to this bill.”
Democrats criticize the redraw as being conducted on racial lines.
“This is just another attempt of a hostile, rogue, racist takeover of democracy being directed by the president of the United States to protect him and the Republican Party, followed through by the governor of this state,” State Sen. Boris Miles (D-Houston) said. “We will not take part in democracy being washed out in this state of Texas.”
King said his secondary goal with the proposed new map was to draw the districts more compactly.
“By drawing race blind, SB4’s districts are more compact than the current map with more reasonable geographic configurations that I think provide a better basis for representation,” King said.
Almost all, 37 of the 38 congressional districts in Texas, are changed to some degree.
Similar to the House proposal, the main districts that see changes to give Republicans a better chance of winning are CD 9 in Houston, CD 28 in the Rio Grande Valley, CD 32 in Dallas, CD 34 along the South Texas coast and CD 35 in Central Texas.
To create the five new Republican seats, the proposed map shifts voters in Austin, Houston, North Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. It puts more Democrats into already Democratic-held districts in some of the state’s biggest cities, such as San Antonio and Houston. Democrats would have larger margins in U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett, Joaquin Castro and Sylvia Garcia’s districts, but they moved around Republican voters from red districts to other Democratic districts, like Greg Casar’s and North Texas U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson’s.
After taking up redistricting, the Senate turned its attention to flooding and advanced several flood-related bills.
Senate Bill 1 addresses multiple problems found after the catastrophic July Fourth flooding. It makes sweeping changes to how state agencies, campgrounds and volunteers will need to prepare and respond to flooding.
Senate Bill 2 by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) calls for the installation of outdoor warning sirens in flood-prone areas. The Texas Water Development Board would be responsible for identifying those areas and determining where the sirens should be installed. The Governor’s Office would be able to give funding to local government to install them.
Many people may silence weather alerts on their phones or even not receive them if they’re in remote areas, but outdoor sirens provide warnings that can’t be missed and can save lives. It’s notoriously spotty in Hunt, where several summer camps, including Camp Mystic, sit along the Guadalupe River.
Bettencourt said his planned legislation will combine old-tech sirens with new-tech cellphones to disseminate emergency messaging. He said it’s all about layering emergency alerts, especially those that cannot be silenced or missed due to reception.
The Senate also advanced Senate Bill 13, which provides credits for cities and counties to make flood prevention fixes, and Senate Bill 43, which allows the TCEQ to issue permits for dam and reservoir repairs.
“The bills that we’re going to consider, they are not going anywhere because the Democrats in the House, with whom we stand in unity, are not going to cave,” state Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) said. “There will be a second special session. Everything we’re doing right now, we are going to end up having to do again.”
The Texas House was once again unable to establish a quorum on Tuesday, as dozens of House Democrats remain scattered throughout other states. Ninety-five House members were present on the House floor on Tuesday, one less than the 96 present on Monday.
More than 50 House Democrats fled the state over a week ago to prevent consideration of a proposed congressional redistricting map. At least 100 House members must be present for a quorum to be established, allowing the House to conduct regular business. There are currently 150 members in the Texas House: 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said that if lawmakers cannot establish a quorum on Friday, both chambers will adjourn sine die, ending this first-called special session, and Gov. Greg Abbott will immediately call another special session.
The governor said the second special session will include 18 items on the agenda from the current special session, such as redistricting and flood response, but could also include others.
“There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them,” Abbott said in a statement. “I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”
Cook asked what took so long for Republicans to act on flood relief. She and Senate Democrats accused the GOP of using the flooding disaster to pass the redistricting bill.
“We deserve a promise that money will start moving today, but instead we got a promise that we will call special sessions after special sessions in perpetuity,” Cook said. “Wasting your time, wasting your money and insulting not just the people who recently died in the most horrifying way, but every single one of our communities that has lived through a hurricane, a wildfire, a tornado, a power outage or any of the other horrific scenes that we are never prepared for in this state.”
This is the ninth day the Democrats have broken quorum and brought the lower chamber to a standstill. The Democrats’ absence has been met with escalating threats from Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Burrows – from ordering Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers to conduct civil arrests if the Democrats return to Texas, to reportedly getting the FBI involved in Illinois, where many of the Democrats went when they left.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, urged Democrats to return before Friday and said if they don’t, the governor will call as many special sessions as it takes to get the bills passed.
“Let me be clear: The Texas Senate will pass the bills on Gov. Abbott’s special session call over, and over, and over again until the House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ to do the people’s business,” Patrick said. “The decision is theirs.”
If lawmakers start over with a new special session on Friday, all of the bills will have to restart the process. It’s unclear whether Democrats will return for that.
In a statement, Chair of the House Democratic Caucus State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) said Democrats want to address the flooding, but if Republicans focus on redistricting again, he said, “All options are on the table.”
“Now, the ball is in Abbott’s court: He can stop blocking flood relief immediately. Stop playing political games, stop pretending to be sheriff, and finally get to work on behalf of Texas families,” Wu said. “Abbott can call a special session today that is dedicated to honoring the loss and memory of the July 4 flooding victims or, he can once again put D.C. corruption ahead of Texas communities.”
“Texas House Democrats are ready to pass real flood relief. We’re ready to fund disaster preparedness,” Wu added. “We’re ready to help the communities that are still rebuilding from the deadliest flood Texas has seen in over 100 years.”
Burrows added that he has been in constant communication with DPS, as troopers work to track down the Democrats to return them to the chamber. He said DPS is keeping track of every taxpayer dollar that has been spent in their effort to compel the Democrats’ attendance, and that amount is well over six figures in DPS overtime. Under House rules, the absent Democrats will be responsible for paying that cost.
“If the devastation in our Hill country communities, the Texas Constitution and their mounting debt aren’t enough to bring them back today, they should yet again be reminded this is not going away,” Burrows said. “The work is not going away, and the pressure on them will only grow.”
Burrows said that members present on Tuesday are free to return to their districts on Wednesday and Thursday, but they need to be back in Austin by Friday at the latest. Should DPS execute a civil arrest of enough absent Democrats before then, members will be on call and must be able to return to Austin with a minimum of six hours’ notice.