Texas Senate approves Republican-drawn redistricting maps in 19-2 vote as nine Democrats walk out in protest while House Democrats remain out of state.

The Texas Senate passed a GOP-friendly House map on Tuesday, putting it a step closer to final passage in the state Legislature. The upper chamber voted 19-2 to pass a new set of congressional lines that would give Republicans five pickup opportunities in the U.

Another key bill the Senate passed was SB 6, Protecting Unborn Children, filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Tyler, which prohibits the manufacture, distribution, mailing, transporting, delivery, and prescribing of abortion-inducing pills for the purpose of obtaining an illegal abortion.