SENATE SENDS NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP TO GOVERNOR
(AUSTIN) — The Senate on Saturday voted in favor of a new congressional district map that its author believes will increase the number of Republicans Texas sends to Washington, D.C. This issue sparked House Democrats to leave the state for two weeks to delay passage and raised a national debate on mid-decade partisan redistricting. They were successful in blocking the legislation during the first special session, but Governor Greg Abbott vowed to call as many sessions as necessary to pass the bill. With no end in sight, House Democrats returned last week and allowed that chamber to reestablish a quorum. Able to conduct business again, the House quickly passed the new maps along a party line vote Monday.
The bill, HB 4, is slightly different than the version passed by the Senate in the first special session, though these differences aren’t significant, said Weatherford senator and bill author Phil King. Like that bill, King said this map meets the three criteria he used to guide the process: a map that complied with all applicable laws, a map that improved partisan performance for Republicans, and a map that made the state’s congressional districts more compact than the current map.
Though redistricting is required after each decennial census, King said that the legislature is permitted to take up the issue whenever it wills. “Courts have well recognized this broad authority, therefore it is perfectly legal for us to have HB 4 before us today,” he said. While there are legal standards regarding drawing district lines based on race, courts have ruled that partisanship is a legitimate basis for determining district boundaries. King said he only considered political performance when drawing lines. “I have not reviewed any racial data,” said King. “In contrast to the complications that are involved with race-based redistricting, political performance is really a pretty easy map to draw and it’s absolutely permissible as a basis for drawing electoral districts.” Based on 2024 voting trends, the new map would elect five more Republicans to the state’s congressional delegation, which currently stands at a 25 to 13 Republican/Democratic split. That doesn’t mean it will do that in 2026, said King. “There are no guarantees,” he said. “There are competitive districts in here now, more competitive than the current map, and I have no idea who’s going to run for what office.”
Though King said the map is race-blind, Democrats opposed to the map pointed out that the result of the next election could very well reduce the number of minority representatives in the state’s congressional delegation. “Since the Civil War, African-Americans have been able to work with different persons in the legislative body and the courts in order to get four African-American representatives in Congress,” Dallas Senator Royce West told King. “What your map does, is it reduces it to two…I call that retrogression.” Other members decried the map for carving up communities and diluting the voting power of black and Hispanic Texans.
Following passage of the new map, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick released a statement praising the measure. “This is a significant step forward — Texas’ Congressional Redistricting Map will now more accurately reflect our state,” he said. “The people of Texas expect and deserve a Congress that represents their values.”
The bill now sits on Governor Abbott’s desk, where it will soon be signed. “I promised we would get this done, and delivered on that promise,” Abbott said in a statement. “I thank Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for leading the passage in the Senate of a bill that ensures our maps reflect Texans' voting preferences.”
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