Gov. Greg Abbott warns about ‘battle ahead’ as new congressional map heads for his desk

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claimed victory Saturday in a protracted fight over redistricting, hours after lawmakers delivered what he called a “guarantee” of a stronger GOP majority in Congress: new maps that redraw the district lines in hopes of sending more Republicans to Washington.

“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,” Abbott said in a statement, referring to a favorite term used by congressional Republicans to describe the new federal budget. “I promised we would get this done, and delivered on that promise.”

In a separate fundraising email sent to supporters about six hours after Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick shut down a last-ditch effort to stall the map, Abbott warned of “a battle ahead” as enraged Democrats – who stalled the plan for weeks in the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature – have promised to fight the map in federal court.

“These maps expand our Republican majority in Congress and guarantee more America First fighters will be sent to Washington to join President Trump in saving our country,” the email read. “The Democrats tried everything to stop us. But Governor Abbott never backed down, and Texas WON.”

In a Saturday morning post on Trust Social, Trump praised Lt. Gov. Patrick for getting the map across the finish line in a powerful endorsement of Patrick’s run for reelection next year.

“Dan’s leadership was pivotal in the passage of the new, fair, and much improved, Congressional Map, that will give the wonderful people of Texas the tremendous opportunity to elect 5 new MAGA Republicans in the 2026 Midterm Elections – A HUGE VICTORY for our America First Agenda,” Trump posted. “In his next Term, Dan will continue to fight

Democrats from Austin to Washington were defiant, calling the maps racist and illegal, accusing Republicans of political gerrymandering to step on the will of voters in order to further Trump’s conservative agenda.

They swore to continue the fight not just in court but also at ballot boxes far beyond state lines, as California begins the process of asking voters to redraw its own map and send more Democrats to Washington to offset Republican gains.

“This fight to preserve our democracy isn’t going to be easy, but we’re fighting like hell to make sure we win,” read a Saturday fundraising email from the Democratic National Committee. “We’re committed to investing in Democratic parties across the country – including California and Texas – to make sure they have the resources they need to fight the Trump administration and its GOP cronies in the states.”

The embattled House Bill 4, by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, cleared its final hurdle when it passed the Texas Senate around 2 a.m. on Saturday. The House passed the redistricting proposal Wednesday after Democrats returned to Austin and declared victory in their derailing of a first-called special session.

The final vote wound up a raucous fight that saw Texas House Democrats fleeing the state for two weeks, a Fort Worth state representative camping out on the chamber floor for two nights, and a veteran Houston senator posting photos of her tennis shoes right before she tried – and failed – to delay the bill in a filibuster attempt.

Lawmakers heard near-universal opposition from more than 250 witnesses during the weeks before Republicans released the final maps, which were not made public until after the public hearings had been conducted in Austin and other parts of the state.

The plan would remove one urban Democratic-leaning district each from North Texas, Houston and the Austin-San Antonio area. In South Texas, it pushes two Democratically held seats further to the right, counting on a shift in Hispanic voting trends toward Republicans in recent elections.

Abbott began to push for the mid-decade redistricting – which usually comes with the new U.S. census figures every 10 years – earlier this summer in response to pressure from President Donald Trump to shore up Congress for Republicans before Democrats could claim the majority in next year’s midterm elections.

The new map would reconfigure Texas’ congressional districts in an effort to turn five of them to Republican control from Democrat control.

The bill is expected to land on Abbott’s desk early next week. The Republican governor has promised to “swiftly” sign the bill into law.

Meanwhile, Texas lawmakers still have several more days to go in their second special legislative session, convened by Abbott a week ago after Democrats fled the state to stall business on the House floor and shut down a vote on the maps.

Ahead of them still are bills relating to the regulation of hemp-based THC, flood-relief initiatives, property taxes, abortion, transgender issues and public education. Democrats, however, now face the wrath of an inconvenienced Republican majority now bent on punishing them for their ultimately unsuccessful tactics.

House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ refusal last week to allow House Democrats to leave the chamber floor without a police escort until the maps passed touched off a national firestorm when Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, refused to let a Texas Department of Public Safety officer follow her around for 48 hours.

He has also promised to make the Democrats who left the state pay thousands in fines and expenses, as well as the costs incurred by the DPS in both searching for the absent lawmakers and then monitoring them 24 hours a day in the aftermath.

Bills have already been filed in the House and Senate that would impose consequences on lawmakers who are absent for long periods of time with the House Speaker’s permission.

Patrick, on his way out of the Capitol a few hours after midnight Saturday, told The Dallas Morning News that he’d support a bill that would fine legislators for fundraising during a special session.

Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, threw a brief wrench into an otherwise fast-tracked floor vote in the Senate late Saturday when she informed Patrick, who presides over the Senate, that she intended to stand at her desk and hold the Senate floor for hours or days to bring attention to maps that had received no public testimony.

In the hours leading up to her attempt on Friday, her colleagues in the Senate bashed the new map and promised to continue their resistance.

“It is a blatant attempt to manipulate maps to avoid accountability for unpopular policies,” the Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement. “This sets a dangerous precedent where politicians could redraw maps before every election, leaving citizens with no real say at all.”

Her effort, ushered in late Friday by a lineup of Senate Democrats who spoke against the bill for hours during floor debate, was shut down by Patrick before it could even get started after Republican senators accused her of inappropriately and unethically trying to fundraise on her filibuster effort.

Rather than allow her to make her stand, as he had planned, Patrick instead let Republicans leverage their majority in the chamber and vote to shut down any further debate – effectively ending Alvarado’s time on the microphone.

Alvarado last attempted to filibuster a bill in 2021, when she stood and spoke for more than 15 hours against a sweeping election bill that created identification requirements for mail-in ballots.

Alvarado’s action had little potential to block the bill.

To do that, she would have needed to keep up a filibuster until the 30-day special session comes to an end at midnight Sept. 13. Abbott, meanwhile, has no limit on the number of times he can call lawmakers back in for additional sessions.