By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

)The Center Squar) – The Texas Senate passed HB 4, the state’s congressional redistricting plan, which changes nearly all districts and could flip up to five seats from blue to red.

It passed along party lines Friday by a vote of 18-11, according to the Senate Journal record.

The bill was on the first special session agenda called by Gov. Greg Abbott. After it first passed a House committee in July, more than 50 House Democrats left the state in opposition, halting legislative proceedings. A second special session was called and after more than two dozen Democrats returned to Austin, the House convened and first passed a flood relief measure. Next, they passed redistricting, both bills went to the Senate.

The Texas Senate first passed a camp safety measure, SB 1, after hearing from parents who lost their daughters at Camp Mystic. The parents argued their deaths were “100% preventable” had the camp had safety measures and an evacuation plan in place, The Center Square reported. Abbott is expected to sign it into law.

After the Senate passed SB 4, Abbott said he will also 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.”

The bill was filed after Texas’ population greatly increased since the maps were redrawn in 2021 and after voter demographics shifted more Republican since 2021. The legislature has the authority to redistrict at any time, the bill’s author, state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, has said.

The plan redraws 37 of Texas’ 38 congressional districts, The Center Square reported.

In response to Democrats saying the bill is racist or unconstitutional, Hunter said the maps not only follow federal and state law but give a greater voice and representation to minority voters. Four of five new districts are majority minority districts, which each now trend Republican. The redistricting “doesn’t guarantee electoral success but it does allow Republicans to compete in these districts,” Hunter said.

The new districts are CD 9-Houston, CD 28-Rio Grande Valley, CD 32-Dallas, CD 34-Coastal Bend and CD 35-San Antonio. The new districts are primarily Hispanic majorities that lean Republican based on recent voting records, Hunter said at a hearing earlier this month, The Center Square reported.

In 2021, there were nine Hispanic majority voting age districts, now there are 10, Hunter said. In 2021, there were no majority Black population districts; under the new proposed plan, there are two.

The plan doesn’t change the number of districts but creates new openings by moving incumbents to different districts, opening up seats in CDs 7, 9, 20, 30, 32, 34 and 35, shifting some incumbent Democrats to compete against each other, The Center Square reported.

The outcome could result in Republicans gaining five seats.

As Democratic governors and lawmakers in California and New York are vowing to redistrict in response to Texas’ redistricting efforts, state Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, says three states with Democratic majorities – California, New York and Illinois – already have unfair advantages.

Any redistricting efforts they make would need to factor in population losses and better represent Republican voters to be legal, critics argue.

In California, 62% of voters vote Democrat, yet the state’s congressional delegation is comprised of 43 Democrats and only 9 Republicans, Spiller said. This gives California congressional Democrats an 82% advantage when Democrats have a 62% majority in the state, Spiller said at a hearing earlier this month, The Center Square reported.

In New York, 58% of voters vote Democrat, yet New York’s congressional delegation is comprised of 19 Democrats and 7 Republicans, giving Democrats a 73% advantage, he said.

The Texas Senate has passed nearly all bills on the special session call. The Texas House is moving through them with several weeks left in the session. However, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said his goal was for the House to pass them all by Labor Day weekend.