AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Early Saturday morning, the Texas State Senate gave final approval to legislation to redraw the state’s congressional map. The vote came after Republicans in the chamber made a procedural move that blocked a planned filibuster by State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston.
The move came just after 12:30 AM, after the Senate had returned from a three hour recess. State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, accused Alvarado of using a campaign email to promote her filibuster as a fundraising event. He called that unethical and potentially unlawful.
Perry then made a motion for the previous question, a procedural move to end debate and force an immediate vote. The motion was approved along party lines.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick then called for a final vote on HB 4. The measure calls for redrawing voting lines, to give Republicans an advantage to pick up five additional seats in Congress during the 2026 midterm elections. The measure passed along party lines. It now heads to Governor Greg Abbott, who vowed to sign it into law.
“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. “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.”
There was shouting heard from the gallery after the move to block the filibuster and take a final vote. Patrick called on officers to remove a man from the gallery.
Alvarado had planned to filibuster as “long as she’s able,” according to a message from her office. But even if she had been allowed to begin, her filibuster would have only delayed the inevitable passage of the bill by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Alvarado is no stranger to filibustering. She filibustered a bill for 15 hours and six minutes in 2021.
“We have to use every tool at our disposal to obstruct, delay, and call this scheme out for what is is — a racist power grab,” Alvarado said in a news release.
Filibusters can be tool used to run out the clock on a legislative deadline to kill a bill. In 2013, former state senator Wendy Davis filibustered an omnibus abortion bill on the last day of a special session to kill the bill.
In an interview with Nexstar, Davis said Alvarado’s filibuster will not end the redistricting effort but it will bring attention to the issue.
On Friday, other Senate Democrats peppered Chairman Phil King, R – Weatherford, about the proposed map. King held firm that the map is legal, was drawn with political performance in mind, and fulfills compactness, which refers to the shape of districts.
Democratic members in both the House and the Senate argue the map is racially gerrymandered and targets minority communities by diluting their voting power. The map changed nearly every one of the 38 Texas congressional districts, but made drastic changes to five districts.
Those include CD 9 in Houston, CDs 28 and 34 in South Texas, CD 35 in San Antonio, and CD 32 in Dallas. All of those districts are currently held by a Democrat.
King told his colleagues on the floor during more than six hours of questioning that he hired legal counsel to check the map to make sure it does not violate the Voting Rights Act.
“I have complete confidence that it meets all legal requirements,” King said.
Republicans hold a 19-11 majority in the Senate. The map passed along party lines, as it did in the Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday.
What is a filibuster?
A filibuster is when a member speaks on a bill for a prolonged time to delay a vote. The legislative move can be used in the Senate but not in the House. The longest ever filibuster in Texas Senate history was 43 hours by State Sen. Bill Meier in 1977.
There are rules to a filibuster. A member must remain standing and not lean on their desk or chair for the entirety of their filibuster. They are not allowed to eat or drink water, and they must keep their remarks to the bill being filibustered.
The member is allowed to break those rules three times, and on the third time, the full Senate can vote to end the filibuster.
What happens next?
Now that the bill is approved by the Senate it will head to the governor’s desk for signature. However, House Democrats have already pledged they will take the map to federal court to block its implementation.
During a news conference in the Capitol rotunda following the House’s passing HB 4, State Rep. Mihaela Plesa, D – Dallas, said they would take the battle from the House floor to the courts, and then on to the ballot box.
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