Texas Senate passes redrawn maps; House still lacks quorum

The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed a hotly contested measure to redraw districts for the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senators advanced the bill in a 19-2 vote. All the Republicans voted for the bill, two Democrats opposed it, and nine other Democratic senators walked out before the vote. The mid-decade redistricting plan led by Republicans could net the GOP five more seats. Democrats have said it’s unfair and racist.

The Democratic legislators who stayed for the vote, Juan Hinojosa and Judith Zaffirini, said they did so because the bill was unlikely to pass the House during the current special session, which ends on Friday. They said they planned to bring up their concerns about the redistricting plan during the next special session, according to Senate records.

Why is the measure unlikely to pass the Texas House this session? Most of the House’s Democratic members left the state more than a week ago to block their chamber from passing the plan. Despite legal action and FBI investigations intended to bring them back to Texas for a vote, most of the representatives were still absent on Wednesday. Texas Republicans were planning to end the current special legislative session on Friday and immediately begin another one, the Senate said on Tuesday. The absent legislators were likely to return for the second session, having made their point, reported ABC 13 Houston, KTRK-TV.

The Senate also passed three flood relief bills on Tuesday. If the House can’t convene during the legislative session that ends Friday due to a lack of a quorum, those bills will be brought up again during the second session.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s explainer for further details on the constitutional vagueness that allows gerrymandering.