A congressional redistricting plan passed by the Texas Senate early Saturday and headed to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature keeps key areas of Fort Bliss in El Paso’s primary congressional district.
The focus of debate on the redistricting plan has been on the redrawing of lines that creates five new Republican-leaning congressional seats in South Texas and around Austin and Houston.
Democrats have decried the rare mid-decade redistricting requested by President Donald Trump as an effort to tip the scales in the 2026 mid-term elections, and are planning similar efforts in states controlled by their party in an effort to blunt the impact of the Texas plan. Texas Republicans have said their efforts, which they acknowledge are an attempt to gain partisan advantage, are legal.
“Latino and Blacks make up 52% of Texas voters, and the rapid growth of these populations is the reason Texas gained new congressional seats. But these maps shut us out,” state Sen. César Blanco, D-El Paso,” said in a statement after the Senate voted 18-11 to approve the new map. “They slice up our neighborhoods, weaken our voice, and deny our communities of color fair representation. When that happens, we lose resources, we lose influence, and we lose accountability. That’s not democracy, that’s disenfranchisement.”
The new map makes Republicans likely to win 30 of the state’s 38 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, up from the current 25. The redistricting was done at the behest of President Donald Trump, who is trying to protect the Republicans’ narrow control of the House in the 2026 midterm election.
“The One Big Beautiful Map has passed the Senate and is on its way to my desk, where it will be swiftly signed into law,” Abbott said in a statement. “I promised we would get this done, and delivered on that promise. I thank Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for leading the passage in the Senate of a bill that ensures our maps reflect Texans’ voting preferences.”
Republicans considered trying to gerrymander El Paso County in their redistricting plan but abandoned the idea. However, the redistricting plan introduced in the first special legislative session last month redrew congressional lines to place key parts of Fort Bliss and El Paso International Airport in a district represented by Tony Gonzales, a San Antonio Republican, rather than the district represented by Democrat Veronica Escobar of El Paso.
The redrawn lines didn’t significantly alter the partisan makeup of the two districts, but could have increased the clout of Gonzales, whose 23rd Congressional District already included two San Antonio-area military bases. El Paso business and political leaders said the airport and Fort Bliss portions should remain in Escobar’s 16th Congressional District because they are major economic engines for the community.
Texas House Democrats killed the first special legislative session by a walkout that prevented a quorum. But most Democrats returned for the second special session that began last week, allowing the House to pass the redistricting bill Wednesday night.
The district maps in the second special session – and approved by the House and Senate – returned the airport and key Fort Bliss areas to Escobar’s district.
The argument over where to place Fort Bliss and the airport reignited a bitter fight from the 2021 redistricting, when a bipartisan group of El Paso business and political leaders blocked an attempt by Gonzales to move them to his district.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The post Abbott set to sign GOP-drawn maps creating new Republican congressional seats, but Escobar holds Fort Bliss appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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