HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — After getting both chambers’ approval, legal challenges have started against a redistricting bill, but legal experts said there’s not much time for those challenges to stop the map from being implemented.<\/p>\n
TEXAS REPUBLICANS SEND REDISTRICTING BILL TO THE GOVERNOR<\/strong><\/p>\n A week after the second special session started, Texas House and Senate Republicans sent a redistricting bill<\/a> to the governor. They hope it sends five more GOP members statewide to D.C.<\/p>\n Democrats did everything they could to slow it down. House Democrats broke quorum for two weeks.<\/p>\n In the Senate, Senator Carol Alvarado attempted to filibuster the bill, which would’ve slowed down a vote. However, after a fundraising email was sent before she started, Republicans blocked her efforts.<\/p>\n Alvarado told ABC13 she offered to allow another Democrat to do it.<\/p>\n “I said, if I’m the problem, then we’ve got a couple of senators ready to go, and that was shut down as well,” Alvarado recalled.<\/p>\n Governor Greg Abbott hasn’t said when and where he plans to sign the legislation.<\/p>\n LEGAL CHALLENGES ARE ALREADY IN THE WORKS<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the bill cleared both chambers, Democrat lawmakers told Republicans that their questions to the bill author, and amendment proposals were in an effort to help with future legal cases.<\/p>\n “You’re telling the court, because this is going to court,” State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) said. It’s a strategy that South Texas College of Law Houston constitutional law professor, Josh Blackman said has worked in the past.<\/p>\n “In the past, members of the legislature had said stuff that wasn’t perhaps the best thing to say,” Blackman said. “They make comments about, we’re trying to hurt Democrats, or we want to favor more people in a certain district. Those comments can come back to haunt them.”<\/p>\n A day after the House passed the bill, NAACP and LULAC leaders held a news conference about what could be coming. Each said they’re working on legislation.<\/p>\n There already is pending litigation. Not from the new map, but from the map created in 2021. LULAC leaders told ABC13 they plan to attach the new map to that litigation.<\/p>\n THERE’S NOT MUCH TIME FOR LEGAL CHALLENGES BECAUSE MID-TERM DEADLINES ARE LOOMING<\/strong><\/p>\n If Abbott signs the bill, the new map would create new congressional districts for the 2026 mid-term election. That’s more than a year away, but there’s not that much time before deadlines start.<\/p>\n “I think the lower courts will have to move very quickly because we’ll have to have primaries, we’ll have to have people putting their names on the ballot,” Blackman explained. “People collecting signatures. There are a lot of steps that have to happen between now and November of 2026.”<\/p>\n The Texas secretary of state<\/a> said candidates start to file for the election on November 8th, 2025. Early voting for the primary starts on Feb. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n Blackman said there’s still time for legal challenges, but the clock is ticking. “The judges can promptly say, ‘We are blocking these maps.’ Which then it goes to appeal right away. Or the judges say, ‘We can’t resolve these maps before the 2026 election, let’s resolve this for 2028.”<\/p>\n DEMOCRATS LOOK FOR OTHER CHALLENGES THAN THE COURTHOUSE<\/strong><\/p>\n With the clock ticking for legal challenges, Democrats are looking for other options. Alvarado said one of those is appealing to other left-leaning states to counter what Texas has done.<\/p>\n “Hopefully, it inspires them to fight back and do what they need to do in order to try and offset what has happened here,” Alvarado said.<\/p>\n Right now, California is moving forward with its plan to change its map.<\/p>\n For updates on this story, follow Nick Natario on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2025 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n