Even though Republicans’ efforts to further gerrymander Texas congressional district to, as ordered by Donald Trump, eliminate five Democratic seats in the U.S. House in the 2026 elections are effectively stymied for this special session due to Democrats in the Texas House leaving the state to break quorum, the GOP-controlled Texas Senate today passed Senate Bill 4, approving the gerrymandered district map devised by Republicans to meet Trump’s demands.
The Senate vote to pass SB 4 was 19-2 after nine Democrats walked off the Senate floor in protest.
Sen. Nathan Johnson, the Democrat representing District 16 located in Dallas County, was among the nine Democrats who walked out. This afternoon, Johnson spoke to reporters just outside the Senate chamber after walking off the floor.
“Let’s make this perfectly clear: This is not a ‘both sides’ issue. Democrats do not engage in mid-decennial redistricting. We do not call on Democratic states to redraw their maps to avoid voter backlash for failed policies and bad leadership,” Johnson said.
“There is only one party here that has abdicated its responsibility, and that’s the Republican Party,” the senator continued. “They are attacking the foundations of democracy.
“There is a limit to how much we, in good conscience, can tolerate the partisan order-following we see here, when the consequence is to thwart the democratic process, when the consequence is to make voters into pawns and the consequence is to silence voices,” Johnson declared. “And we’re not going to be part of it.”
— Tammye Nash