Texas Senate Committee Advances GOP Gerrymander for Final Approval

The Texas Senate redistricting committee in a 5-3 vote along party lines approved the state’s proposed new congressional map, likely teeing up the map to receive final approval when the full Senate convenes late Thursday. 

The map, drawn after pressure from President Donald Trump, could give the GOP an additional five congressional seats.

The Senate voted earlier this month to approve the map – after two Senate Democrats remained in the chamber, allowing Republicans to hold the vote – but it must hold another vote. House Democrats left the state for two weeks, running out the clock on the first 30-day special legislative session. 

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) immediately called a second session last week, and Republicans filed a revised version of the map that the House approved Wednesday evening.

Among the changes, Houston’s redrawn District 9, currently represented by U.S. Rep Al Green (D), will lean even further right than it did under the map drawn in the first session.  

State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) quickly filed Thursday to run for the District 9 seat, drawing heated criticism from across the aisle.

“Yesterday, Briscoe Cain helped force the passage of HB4. It manufactures 5 new Republican seats in Congress,” state Rep. John Bucy posted on social media. “Today, he filed to run for Congress in one of the newly created seats. This was ALWAYS about clinging to power. Greedy politicians working for themselves—not the people.”

Senate Democrats criticized state Sen. Phil King (R), the committee chair, for holding the meeting without taking public testimony on the map revisions. 

“This map had some significant changes, and there was not a public hearing in the House committee. There’s not one here,” state Sen. Carol Alvarado (D) said.

When Alvarado also pointed out that no Republican members of the Texas congressional delegation testified on the maps, King deflected, continuing to deny that any national Republicans have been involved in the redistricting scheme. 

“I have not spoken to anyone in the White House. I haven’t spoken to anyone at the Justice Department. I haven’t spoken to any members of the congressional leadership,” King said.

The map was drawn by Adam Kincaid, the executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the GOP’s national organization for redistricting.