AUSTIN — The Texas Senate approved a new congressional map early Saturday, advancing a plan designed to bolster Republican power and sending it to the governor after weeks of partisan clashes.
House Bill 4 passed 18-11 along party lines just after 12:30 a.m.
Democrats tried to block the plan with Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston preparing a filibuster, but Republicans ended debate after midnight with a rare procedural move and forced a vote.
The Trump-backed map secures all 25 existing GOP seats while redrawing districts in Austin, Dallas and Houston to weaken Democrats and making two South Texas districts more favorable to Republicans.
In total, it could net the GOP as many as five new U.S. House seats.
Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, who sponsored HB 4, defended it as legal, compact and favorable for Republicans, while insisting under Democratic questioning that he never considered racial or ethnic data.
The plan aims to shore up the GOP’s narrow House majority in a midterm cycle expected to benefit Democrats, a margin that could decide whether Republicans retain full control in Washington or contend with a divided government scrutinizing Trump and blocking his agenda.
The battle in the Texas Legislature over map has ignited a national redistricting war from New York to California.
State lawmakers gather around Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's desk before the final vote on the mid-decade redistricting bill in the Texas Senate. Photo by Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
