BREAKING: Texas Senate PASSES New Congressional Map — Democrats WALK OUT in Protest

Amid the redistricting battle in Texas, the Republican-controlled Senate just officially passed the new congressional map.

The vote to approve the map, which would give Republicans 5 more House seats ahead of the midterms, passed 19-2, along party lines.

This is a big win!

🚨BREAKING: The Texas Senate has PASSED new congressional maps that would add 5 Republican seats and cut 5 Democrat seats.

Democrats just lost big! pic.twitter.com/noZQtSGLZG

— Jack Wallace (@JackWallace888) August 12, 2025

The passage of the new congressional map happened in spite of Senate Democrat efforts to undermine the vote.

Prior to the vote today, nine out of 11 Democrats walked out.

They said it was in “solidarity” with the runaway Texas House Democrats who fled the state in order to break quorum.

Take a look:

BREAKING: Nine Texas Senate Democrats have walked off the Senate floor during session to protest the pending vote on new Congressional maps. They say they’re showing solidarity with House Democrats who broke quorum. Senate Democrats holding are news conference now. @CBSNewsTexas pic.twitter.com/3gi87NukoJ

— Jack Fink (@cbs11jack) August 12, 2025

🚨 BREAKING: The Texas Senate has officially PASSED the new U.S. House Maps, as Democrats STORMED OUT of the chamber 🤣

The Dems are BIG mad.

Now all it needs is House approval and Republicans will pick up potentially 5 U.S. House seats! 🔥

🎥 @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/lyIL6ixhcO

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 12, 2025

However, their effort to prevent the Senate vote failed because two Democrat senators actually stayed and did their job.

The Dallas Morning News reported:

A majority of Democrats in the Texas Senate walked out of the chamber Tuesday to protest a vote on a congressional redistricting map as it advanced to the Texas House.

Nine of the Senate’s 11 Democrats left just as Republican Sen. Phil King of Weatherford introduced Senate Bill 4, which included a congressional map that is a replica of the one in the House. Democratic Sens. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and Chuy Hinojosa of McAllen did not participate in the walkout and stayed in the chamber.

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“There’s only one party here that has actually abdicated its responsibility, and that’s the Republican party,” Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, said in a news conference held by the nine Democrats outside of the Senate.

The walkout did not prevent the Republican-controlled Senate from passing the map on a 19-2 vote. The map, however, is unlikely to go anywhere during the first special session because dozens of House Democrats left the state to deny the chamber a quorum. Activity in the House has been frozen since Aug. 4.

Now, Texas needs the House to finalize the new congressional map.

However, rogue Democrats are still sabotaging the House vote by not showing up in order to prevent Republicans from having the necessary quorum.

🚨 UPDATE: The Texas Senate has PASSED the Republicans+5 2026 Congressional map, 19-2.

NOW, they need the House.

But the House has no quorum. Derelict Democrats haven’t returned yet.

If the House can’t get a quorum by Friday – Abbott will call another special session, and… pic.twitter.com/b3XarZTvi2

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 12, 2025

UPDATE: The Texas Senate has PASSED the Republicans+5 2026 Congressional map, 19-2.

NOW, they need the House. But the House has no quorum. Derelict Democrats haven’t returned yet.

If the House can’t get a quorum by Friday – Abbott will call another special session, and they’ll pass it again.

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And again, and again, until Democrats are hauled back into the chambers.

Still, Gov. Greg Abbott is unfazed.

He vowed again today to get the new congressional map passes, as long as it takes.

If there is no quorum by the time the special session expires this Friday, then he will call a new special session — and, he will keep doing this until the agenda passes!

Gov. Abbott stated:

Democrats can run to another state, but they can’t outrun the will of Texans.

If there’s no quorum Friday, Special Session #2 will start immediately after Sine Die.

Same agenda, with potential to add more.

I’ll call special after special until the Texas first agenda is passed. pic.twitter.com/DruA8YHcrn

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 12, 2025

It seems like the more Democrats try to sabotage Republicans’ redistricting efforts, the more determined they become to pass it — at any means necessary…

Talk about backfiring!

Republicans in Texas are playing to win, and it’s awesome to see.

The Texas Tribune has more:

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.

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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.