The Texas Senate passed the “Big Beautiful Map” shortly after midnight Saturday morning. The party-line vote to approve the map came after a planned filibuster by Senator Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) was canceled by Republican senators using a parliamentary procedure.
The Texas Senate voted 18-11 to pass the Senate bill authorizing a new mid-census congressional redistricting map. The vote took place at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, following more than eight hours of debate. Senator Alvarado announced plans to filibuster the bill and continue the debate well into Saturday. Her plans were cut short when the Senate Republican Caucus discovered Alvarado planned to use the filibuster as a fund-raising gimmick.
In a letter to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R), Alvarado described the bill as an “extraordinary attempt to redraw the lines in the middle of the decade.” She said the bill would create a “dangerous precedent where politicians could redraw maps to pick their voters before every election.”
“I intend to use every procedural tool available under Senate rules” to oppose the bill.
Apparently, according to the New York Post, Alvarado also planned to use a catheter and a urine bag to assist her in carrying out the extended filibuster.
Shortly before Alvarado was to begin her debate, the Senate announced a long break for dinner.
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Her plans came to an abrupt end when Republicans discovered an Alvarado campaign email promoting “her filibuster as a fundraising opportunity,” the Senate Republican Caucus wrote in a statement Saturday morning.
The Republican senators said Alvarado’s campaign email violated the “long-standing traditions, ethics, and decorum of the Texas Senate.” The senators seized the opportunity to exercise a parliamentary procedure by “calling the question,” forcing a vote on the measure.
“Shutting down a filibuster over a fundraising email is unprecedented,” Democratic Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Bastrop) said in a post on social media. “It exposes the hypocrisy of Republicans, who will turn around and raise millions off stealing Texans’ votes while silencing their voices.”
Republicans responded, writing:
Using the Senators, the employees, and support resources to bolster Sen. Alvarado’s fundraising activities effectively holds hostage the entire Senate and forces emplaoyees to assist and participate in her campaign. Every other Senate member and each employee is a ‘prop’ to support Sen. Alavarado’s campaign.
Given this unprededented situation, as the Republican Caucus, we move to call the previous question and end this political debate.
The Republican senators also claimed that Alavarado’s filibuster and fundraising campaign would appear to be “unlawfully and unethiclally using state resources for a campaign purpose.”
As the vote was called, 18 Republicans voted yea and 11 Democrats voted nay.
The Texas House passed the redistricting map earlier this week on a partisan vote of 88-52.
The measure now proceeds to Governor Greg Abbott for signature into law.
Abbott responded to the passage, writing, “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. I promised we would get this done, and delivered on that promise. I thank Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for leading the passage in the Senate of a bill that ensures our maps reflect Texans’ voting preferences.”
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran and serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
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