Houston state Sen. Carol Alvarado says she will filibuster Republicans’ new congressional map

From Houston Public Media:

Houston-area Democratic state Senator Carol Alvarado announced her intention to filibuster the Texas Senate’s vote on the state’s controversial new congressional map.

“Republicans think they can walk all over us,” Alvarado said in a post on social media Friday afternoon. “Today I’m going to kick back. I’ve submitted my intention to filibuster the new congressional maps. Going to be a long night.”

The new congressional map was passed by the House earlier this week in an 88-52 vote, following a fierce debate that stretched over more than eight hours. The House vote also occurred just two days after the chamber reestablished a quorum following the return of House Democrats who left the state for two weeks.

Texas Republicans have been working to pass the new map at the request of President Donald Trump, who has directed Gov. Greg Abbott to redistrict the state to try and secure five more Republican seats in Washington during the midterm elections.

Alvarado’s filibuster will delay the Senate’s approval of the map, the second-to-last step required to codify the state’s new congressional map. Abbott is expected to sign the new map into law shortly after it passes the Republican-controlled Senate.

Alvarado’s last major filibuster was in 2021, when she spoke for 15 hours and seven minutes to delay the passage of Republican-backed voting restrictions. That was also the last time Texas Democrats broke quorum.

California Democratic state lawmakers approved new congressional maps this week. Voters will now decide whether to adopt the new maps in a November special election. If they do, it could cancel out any gains made by Republicans in Texas.

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