Texas House approves mid-decade congressional redistricting plan

House lawmakers passed the congressional map with an 88-52 vote along party lines, sending it to the Senate. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Aug. 19 that the Senate will take up the House’s version of the map. The Senate redistricting committee is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Aug. 21 to consider legislation referred to the committee.

How we got here

Democrats traveled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts on Aug. 3 to stall a vote on the proposed congressional map. In their absence, the House did not have enough members present to pass any bills, and the first special legislative session of the year was cut short as a result.

The House redistricting committee swiftly sent the map to the House floor after Democrats returned to Austin on Aug. 18. Democrats said they returned to “build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court.”

Democrats who left the state and returned Aug. 18 were each assigned state troopers to accompany them “around the clock” anytime they left the Capitol building. The order requiring the police escorts was set to expire after House lawmakers approved the congressional map.

Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, slept in the House chamber for two nights after refusing to sign the agreement allowing her to leave the Capitol under the supervision of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Several other House Democrats, including Wu; Reps. Penny Morales Shaw, D-Houston; Rhetta Andrews Bowers, D-Rowlett; Mihaela Plesa, D-Dallas; Salman Bhojani, D-Euless; and Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, D-Farmers Branch, shredded their agreements and joined Collier on the House floor Aug. 19.

During the Aug. 20 House session, Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, directed the House sergeant-at-arms to lock the chamber doors. Lawmakers from either party who wanted to leave the chamber while the House was in session were required to get permission from the sergeant-at-arms. That order and the requirement for DPS escorts ended when the House adjourned around 6:20 p.m. Aug. 20.

After the House vote, Collier told reporters she was tired and "wanted to cry."

"It was hard to sit through hypocrisy, the lies, the way that they tried to silence our voices," Collier said. "The fact that I am angry and furious means that I still want to fight. ... This is the start of a new beginning [and] the new Democratic Party."

Zooming in

During debate on the proposed map Aug. 20, Hunter and Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, D-Dallas, raised their voices as they discussed how the map would impact Black Texans.

“I'm talking about the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, who potentially will lose two seats,” Gervin-Hawkins said, asking Hunter if “these maps do eliminate two African American-leaning districts?”

Hunter said he did not think the redistricting plan would “eliminate them, because I think anybody can win any election.” He acknowledged that “the demographics” of some districts would change under the proposal.

“So there is your racism, right?” Gervin-Hawkins asked. Hunter said he disagreed.

Hunter pushed back against Gervin-Hawkins’ concerns that Black Democrats were not involved in the redistricting process, noting that dozens of Democrats left the state to fight the legislation.

“For 17-18 days, you left,” Hunter said. “Now you're getting behind the microphone [asking] why didn't I involve you? Well, I wasn't going across state lines to find you—I was here. You left us for 18 days, and that’s wrong.”

Hunter previously said that the “primary changes” in the proposed map were focused on five districts:

• TX-09, served by U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston
• TX-28, served by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo
• TX-32, served by U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Farmers Branch
• TX-34, served by U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen
• TX-35, served by U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin

On the House floor Aug. 20, Republicans noted that the map would create one new district where Hispanic residents make up a majority of eligible voters, and two new majority-Black districts. Republicans maintained that the map was drafted to benefit Republican candidates and that race was not considered.

More details

During the Aug. 20 House session, dozens of Texans met in the Capitol rotunda to protest the redistricting effort. Green urged protesters to register to vote and spread awareness about the proposed map.

“Regardless of how today ends, the fight is not over,” Green said. “One vote matters.”

Casar, who also spoke at the rally, told House lawmakers Aug. 1 that he was concerned the map was drawn with out-of-state interests in mind.

“It's clear to me that these maps aren't drawn by anybody from Texas,” Casar said Aug. 1. “The southern suburbs of Austin and Hays County that I currently proudly represent, they have been drawn out to Port Aransas. There's northern parts of Austin drawn to northeast Texas; western parts of Austin drawn out to Midland-Odessa.”

During a hearing in the first special session, Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, said she thought the map would help Black voters receive more “appropriate representation.”

“I just wanted to make it clear that... there are minority Republicans,” Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, said during the Aug. 1 hearing. “I mean, there [are] Black and Hispanic Republicans on the dais, so I just don't think it's fair to just assume that the Anglo districts are going to lead to more Anglo representation.”

House Democrats proposed 7 amendments that, if approved, would have stopped or delayed the proposed map from taking effect by requiring studies on the proposed congressional districts and requiring a court ruling about the map’s impacts on minority voters. Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, also proposed adopting a different map that she said was created by her legislative staff.

All amendments proposed by Democrats were voted down on party lines.

One more thing

Before House lawmakers began discussing the proposed map Aug. 20, some Democrats questioned why the chamber was taking up redistricting before passing bills aimed at helping communities recover from the deadly July 4-5 floods.

“Why was House Bill 1, the flood relief bill that is the House's answer to the deadly July 4 flooding that killed over 135 people, not the first order of business of this special session for the Texas House?” Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, asked.

Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, countered that “had the members of this House shown up and done their jobs in this first special session, we would have already passed critical flood relief legislation and provided financial relief and support for all of the impacted communities.”

The House is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. Aug. 21 to consider six flood-related bills, including proposals to increase safety and evacuation requirements for youth summer camps; streamline first responder communications; and provide up to $324 million in flood relief grants.