AUSTIN – The Texas House is voting on new mid-decade redistricting maps on Wednesday after a two-week delay.
The Republican-led House was looking to create five additional GOP House seats ahead of next year’s midterm election.
Redistricting is usually only done after the U.S. census every 10 years.
Republicans say the new districts were drawn to maximize partisan advantage.
Democrats opposed the new maps, saying they’re based on racial discrimination.
The Senate has already passed the new Congressional maps.
Texas redistricting effort
AUSTIN, TEXAS – AUGUST 06: A newly proposed U.S. Congressional District map is seen as the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting meets to hear invited testimony on Congressional plan C2308 at the Texas State Capitol on August 6, 202
Dig deeper:
The new map increases the number of congressional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points by five.
Republicans currently control 25 of the state’s 38 Congressional districts.
The new map makes some big changes in North Texas. It moves Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey’s district from Tarrant to Dallas County, Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson’s district moves from Dallas and Collin County to more conservative sections of East Texas, and Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas seat becomes one of just two majority Black districts in the entire state.
The Democrats claim the redrawn maps will violate the federal Voting Rights Act, but that may be difficult for them to prove.
In Central Texas, Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett find their districts vastly different from the most recent map.
The district currently held by Casar would no longer include Travis County, while the district held by Doggett would no longer include a portion of Williamson County.
In Houston, the new map reshapes four currently Democrat-held districts. The biggest change to the districts would be in the seat currently held by Rep. Al Green. The new map would shift the district from covering southern Harris County and instead move it to the eastern part of the county.
Democratic quorum break
The backstory:
Democrats claimed victory in blocking legislation in the first special session, but that will be short-lived. Republicans plan to fast track their priorities, including redistricting and flood response legislation.
For two weeks, Texas Democrats blocked any legislation from reaching Gov. Abbott’s desk.
They left the state in protest of a vote on a new congressional redistricting map that would give republicans five new seats in congress.
Nationwide impact
What they’re saying:
Dallas state Rep. Toni Rose said the quorum break had an impact nationwide.
“Gaining five seats will also impact the entire country, and we wanted to slow it down. The process was very disrespectful,” she said.
Texas redistricting fight’s national repercussions
Legislative work in Texas is stalled after Democratic lawmakers fled the state to avoid a redistricting vote. The drama has spread across the country with other blue states now considering redrawing their own congressional lines. FOX’s Rebekah Castor has more.
But the Texas map is moving forward with a Senate committee advancing it on Sunday.
“We are done waiting, we have a quorum. Now is the time for action. We will move quickly,” said Rep. Burrows.
Moving quickly, not just on redistricting, but also on another special session priority, flood safety bills from the July 4th disaster in Central Texas.
What’s next:
Democrats know the congressional map will eventually pass. Their next goal is to fight it in the courts, something that was already going to happen once the maps passed.
The Source: Information in this article was provided from previous FOX Digital coverage and interviews conducted by FOX journalists.
