Nine of the Senate’s 11 Democrats left just as Republican Sen. Phil King of Weatherford introduced Senate Bill 4, which included a congressional map that is a replica of the one in the House. Democratic Sens. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and Chuy Hinojosa of McAllen did not participate in the walkout and stayed in the chamber.
“There’s only one party here that has actually abdicated its responsibility, and that’s the Republican party,” Democratic Sen. Nathan Johnson, said in a news conference held by the nine Democrats outside of the Senate.
The walkout did not prevent the Republican-controlled Senate from passing the map on a 19-2 vote. The map, however, is unlikely to go anywhere during the first special session because dozens of House Democrats left the state to deny the chamber a quorum. Activity in the House has been frozen since Aug. 4.
Lawmakers are anticipating a second special session to begin Friday after Gov. Greg Abbott said he would immediately call lawmakers back if enough House Democrats do not return to establish a quorum.
“I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed,” Abbott said.
The Senate’s map – like the House one – shifts five congressional districts to the GOP’s favor for the 2026 midterm elections. President Donald Trump requested the new map in order to increase his chances that the GOP will keep control of the House next year.
“The Texas Senate will continue passing this map each legislative session to accurately reflect our state until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ and get back to work for the people of Texas,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement after the vote.
Democratic Sen. Royce West, said the caucus chose to have at least two senators remain in the chamber in order to ask questions about the bill. Hinojosa and Zaffirini were the two who remained.
Democratic Sens. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio and Molly Cook of Houston went a step further and left the Capitol and returned to their districts after the walk out.
“I’m not going to go back into that farce, into that bulls–-t room where nothing gets done today because they would rather do Donald Trump’s bidding,” Gutierrez said.
Senate Democrats have chosen not to follow their House colleagues and leave the state in order to break quorum. Democratic Sen. Carol Alvarado, who is the chamber’s Democratic caucus leader, said they have “limited options.”
She did not elaborate.
It’s unclear whether Democrats would walk out again in the second special session in order to protest the bill.
Asked if they would walk out again, West said that being an attorney, he does not tell the other side his plans ahead of time.
“I’m not going to start today,” he said.
©2025 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
