A mid-decade vote for redistricting is projected to bring five more congressional House seats to republicans.
Abbott wrote in a statement: “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.”
“The effect of this legislation is to sway an election in 2026,” said Democratic Texas Representative Rey Martinez Fischer.
But Fischer of District 116 and Democratic Texas Representative Josey Garcia of District 124, both representing San Antoni,o say it didn’t get there without a fight.
“State Representative Josey Garcia was turned back into Sergeant Jolene Garcia,” said Garcia.
They left Texas to prevent a state house vote on the redistricting, but eventually enough representatives came back for the vote to pass.
Today, they are thinking of San Antonio.
“Already with these redrawn maps, two members of Congress have now been redrawn out of San Antonio; that’s gonna hurt us,” said Fischer.
“Also, it impacts two of our strongly minority, strongly Latino-represented districts,” said Garcia.
Abbott, on the other hand, continued in the statement writing “I thank Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for leading the passage in the senate of a bill that ensures our maps reflect Texans’ voting preferences.”
We reached out to multiple Republican lawmakers to get their take on the map, but haven’t heard back this weekend.
Fischer says this fight is not over. A federal lawsuit has already been filed, and more may be on the way.