The committee advanced the map to the floor a day after the state House passed its map in a 88–52 vote.
A Texas Senate committee advanced a newly drawn congressional map on Aug. 21 that was passed by the state House, setting it up for a vote on the state Senate floor.
The vote tally in the Texas Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting was 5–3.
The map would likely flip five U.S. congressional seats in the Lone Star State in favor of the GOP. If the state Senate passes the map, it will go to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. The state Senate is scheduled to meet on Thursday evening.
The committee advanced the map to the floor a day after the state House passed its map 88–52, following a several-hours-long session. “I congratulate Speaker [Dustin] Burrows and the Republican members of the Texas House of Representatives for passing congressional districts that better reflect the actual votes of Texans,” Abbott said in an Aug. 20 statement. “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. I will sign this bill once it passes the Senate and gets to my desk.”
Texas Senate Republicans passed a map on Aug. 13, but state Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican, put forth a revised map, making the Senate take up the redistricting effort again.
“The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance,” Hunter said on the floor of the lower chamber.
State Rep. Ana Hernandez, a Democrat, said that the measure “represents one of the most blatant assaults on fair representation we have seen in Texas.”
“Diversity is our greatest strength. It is what makes our neighborhoods vibrant, our workforce dynamic, and our communities resilient. HB 4 silences that diversity instead of celebrating it,” Hernandez said.
Previously, during the first special session, Democrats in the Texas House left the state in order to deny a quorum when Republicans looked to pass a redrawn map.
They returned following the end of the first special session, after which Abbott immediately called a second special session.
