Summary
- Texas Senate panel advances GOP-friendly House map.
- The plan gives Republicans multiple 2026 pickup
chances. - Redistricting effort moving quickly in both chambers.
- New lines aim to strengthen the GOP majority.
- Map could reshape Texas congressional representation.
The same set of congressional boundaries that a
Texas state House passed earlier this month was advanced by the Texas Senate
Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting in a 6-1 vote.
Lawmakers in the Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort
Worth, and Rio Grande Valley regions will be impacted by the House plan, which
attempts to provide Republicans with five additional pickup possibilities.
The Texas Senate committee’s decision sets up the House lines for a floor vote.
However, the attempt to enact the maps in both
chambers has stalled because Texas Democrats have left the state to prevent the
quorum, which is the bare minimum of lawmakers required to do business. How
long Democrats will avoid Texas is still up in the air.
Texas state Sen. Borris Miles (D), who sits on
the Senate redistricting committee, strongly condemned the Republicans’ efforts
to pass the gerrymandered map in remarks before the vote.
“I’m truly saddened, but I guess at this point I
should not be shocked by the fact that my colleagues — you all — have openly
embraced an invitation to engage in overt racism, mindful of our sordid history
of disenfranchising people who look like me,”
said Miles, who is Black.
“These seats don’t belong to Donald J. Trump.
He’s not owning — he doesn’t own anything,”
Miles continued.
“And we should not
be auctioned off — our votes — to get him five more seats, Mr. Chairman. These
seats belong to the people of Texas.”
What legal challenges could delay or block the new
Texas redistricting plan?
Lawsuits can be filed at any time alleging the
redistricting plan violates the Texas Constitution, federal Constitution, or
federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act. State lawsuits typically go to
state courts, while federal challenges may be filed in federal court. Courts
can declare a plan invalid, prompting new plans or court-ordered maps.
The DOJ previously challenged Texas maps for
unlawfully combining Black and Hispanic voters, and Democrats allege the latest
GOP plan dilutes minority voting power to create partisan advantage.
These claims might trigger Voting Rights Act
litigation, though recent Supreme Court decisions have limited courts’ ability
to intervene in partisan gerrymandering cases but still allow intervention in
racial gerrymandering cases.
