Texas Senate approves new congressional lines as House Democrats remain out of state

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The Texas Senate approved new congressional lines on Tuesday in a rare mid-decade redistricting effort that could aid Republicans in their effort to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 election.

The vote was 19-2, with nine Democrats absent after exiting the Senate floor moments after the maps were taken up, a show of protest against what they framed as a "corrupt process."

"This mid-decade redistricting isn’t about fair representation—it’s about politicians picking their voters instead of voters choosing their leaders," the Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement. "And it doesn’t stop here. If they can gerrymander now, they can and will do it before every election."

Denying a quorum, as House Democrats have done in the lower chamber, would have required all 11 Senate Democrats to walk out. But two Democrats, Sens. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa of McAllen stayed in the chamber to vote against the map.

Both lawmakers had spent 45 days in New Mexico in 2003 in protest of the GOP's mid-decade redistricting effort then.

“We learned that quorum breaks can delay but not defeat this effort,” Zaffirini and Hinojosa said in a joint statement. “Legislators cannot stay away forever, and the Governor will call as many special sessions as needed to prevail. Our greatest hope is at the courthouse, and the sooner we get there, the better.”

Dozens of Democrats in the lower chamber have decamped to Illinois and other parts of the country, bringing work in the House to a halt for a second week as the chamber continued to lack the minimum headcount needed to conduct business.

“We stand in solidarity with our House Democrat brothers and sisters,” said Houston Sen. Carol Alvarado, the Senate Democratic leader. “Our options here to push back and fight in the Senate are pretty limited, so we’re using every tool that we have.”

The Senate-approved map now heads to the House, which must approve the lines. So far, the Democrats' absence has stalled the effort. On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows said they would adjourn for the session if the lower chamber continued to lack a quorum on Friday. Gov. Greg Abbott said he would immediately call a second special session with the same agenda, while teasing the possibility of adding more items.

Texas Republicans began to push for new political boundaries after President Donald Trump’s team insisted state lawmakers, who were initially wary, take up an opportunity to gain more GOP seats in Congress.

The Senate-approved map is identical to the initial draft introduced in the House. After that proposal was approved by a House committee, Democrats in the lower chamber left the state, depriving the chamber of the required number of lawmakers to pass legislation. The so-called quorum break stalled the map from passing the full House.

In a statement, Patrick said the Senate "will continue passing this map each legislative session to accurately reflect our state until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ and get back to work for the people of Texas.”

While the Senate Democrats who walked out Tuesday labeled the map "unconstitutional," the Republican leading the chamber's redistricting push argued otherwise.

"No one has presented data, or frankly any compelling case that this map violates any applicable laws," said Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford.

Democrats in other states, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, have also promised their own retaliatory redistricting if Texas passes the new map.

Republicans in Texas have taken an offensive stance on the quorum break, with Burrows signing civil arrest warrants for the missing Democrats. Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have also requested that some members be expelled from their seats by the state Supreme Court. Missing members are also facing $500-a-day fines for their absence.

In crafting new districts that would likely elect Republican representatives, the proposed map could also pit incumbent Democratic representatives against one another in some districts, or risk them losing their seats in others. Under the new map, areas represented by progressive Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett would both be under the new District 37, currently held by Doggett.

Doggett has expressed interest in running again for the seat and pushed back in a post on X against claims he was “declaring war” on Casar in doing so. The new map would redraw Casar’s District 35 so that less than 10% of his current constituency would remain as it would no longer cover the Austin area.

“Abandoning winnable majority Hispanic #TX35 to challenge me in #TX37 helps Trump, divides progressives,” Doggett wrote in the post on Monday.

Kayla Guo contributed to this report.

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