Texas House Advances Redistricting Maps to Increase Republican Majority in Congress

Texas Republicans are racing to redraw the state’s congressional map barely three years after the once-a-decade redistricting that followed the 2020 Census. The move, requested by Gov. Greg Abbott at former President Donald Trump’s urging, could flip as many as five U.S. House seats from Democrat to Republican—just enough to shore up the GOP’s wafer-thin majority if blue states do not retaliate ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Testimony across three public hearings has been lopsided against the plan, and not one member of Texas’ Republican congressional delegation has endorsed it.

At present, Republicans hold 25 of the state's 38 congressional seats. At the behest of President Trump, they are looking to increase that number to 30, leaving Democrats (who are roughly 45% of the state's voters) with only 8 seats in the Texas Congressional delegation.

The Proposed Map (Plan 2308) has been passed out of committee

Republican leaders point to a recent U.S. Department of Justice letter alleging that Congressional Districts 18, 19, 29 and 33 were drawn with unconstitutional “race-based” intent. Yet lawmakers on the House Committee on Redistricting—called under oath in an ongoing federal lawsuit—insisted the existing 2021 map was race-neutral. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had agreed with this in a statement that he issued defense of the 2021 maps as race-neutral.

Most of the public hearings were conducted before maps were even released to the public, making it challenging for voters and politicians alike to understand just what is happening in the Lone Star State. The link here will take you to an interactive version of the proposed map.

Many high-profile politicians have chimed in on this issue. Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston), who sits on the redistricting committee, rejected the federal claim outright. “I resent the United States Department of Justice accusing our state of drawing some race-based maps,” she said.

Committee Chair Cody Vasut (R-Angleton), who voted for the current map in 2021, told colleagues: “Every map that I have ever voted for has been free from racial gerrymandering.” He also acknowledged that not a single member of the committee had asked for the redraw.

Legal scholar Dr. Ellen Katz of the University of Michigan warned the panel that complying with the DOJ could itself violate federal law, testifying “what would violate the [Voting Rights Act] and the 14th amendment would be for Texas to do now what [the DOJ] is asking us to do." She added that the DOJ was "injecting race-based consideration into what Attorney General Paxton said was a race-neutral process,” noting, “The [DOJ] letter itself repeatedly employs race-based considerations by relying on the racial compositions of these districts as the sole basis to argue that they are unlawful,” and concluded bluntly that “doing redistricting now would be illegal.”

More than five hours of testimony in Austin were followed by jam-packed field hearings: over 700 people registered to speak in Houston, more than 1,000 in Arlington, and upward of 3,000 written comments statewide. By the final session, Vasut conceded that an “overwhelming majority” opposed redistricting; Democratic Rep. Gene Wu estimated the ratio at “99 against for every 1 for redistricting.”

Texas Democrats are almost universally against the redistricting effort, because it would decrease their power in congress. At a committee hearing, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin) told the committee there is “no need to redraw the maps and violate the [the right for people to be represented].” His sentiment was supported by Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), whose district 29 faces drastic changes, warned that “ripping apart the district will silence the voice of those communities.”

Local democrat leaders also voiced opposition to any redistricting at a hearing in Arlington before maps were even announced. At the hearing, Tarrant County Democratic Chair Allison Campolo warned Republicans of the potential backlash, saying “we have way more people testifying than you have time to site here… if you do this, you will dilute your own districts with our numbers, and you will lose your congressional seats in droves.”

Another attendee chided lawmakers, insisting “these are not the parties seats – these are the people’s seats.”

US Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) insisted that his district, which meanders through minority neighborhoods of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was drawn "to ensure that communities of color, Black and brown Texans, could finally have a voice in Congress."

Veasey's main Republican challenger, Kurt Schwab, provided exclusive comment to American Liberty Media regarding the Texas redistricting effort. Schwab insisted that "Marc Veasey is throwing a tantrum because he knows his seat is coming to an end," continuing to say "I would like to see Texas as red as possible in order help President Trump continue his path in putting the country where it needs to be.”

He's not the only Republican candidate with his eyes on a congressional seat if the lines are drawn more favorable for the GOP. Deliris Berrios, who is running to unseat a Democrat in El Paso, is also in favor of the redistricting effort. “Our district has seen an increase in our population in the last recent recent years, and it is not unusual to engage in an unscheduled mid-decade redistricting effort to address the issue" she said. Whether the proposed maps make it through the State legislature or not, she's optimistic about the future, commenting "bottom line, our El Paso district is underrepresented, and our constituents deserve to have strong voices at the round table to see meaningful future changes.”

Republicans who are running in traditionally red districts are a bit more cautious about having the lines redrawn in a way that could dilute Republican strongholds. Travis Edwards, a Republican from Athens, the county seat of Henderson County (southeast of Dallas) pointed out that "preserving Republican strongholds across the state is essential" and that "caution is necessary to not swing the pendulum too far and risk losing seat in future elections."

Brandon Hawbaker, a Republican challenging Rep. Michael McCaul in TX-10, provided exclusive comment to ALM, sharing his belief that“[incumbents] should care about everyone in their district, not just what gives them easy votes.” He added, “Districting should be more about getting good representation for the kind of people living in an area, rather than rigging elections,” noting the difficulty of reforming the process “especially since democrats are doing the same thing in blue states.”

Because redistricting normally happens only after each Census, Texas’ mid-cycle maneuver—driven from the top at Abbott’s and Trump’s request—would be legal but likely very unpopular. If enacted, Republicans could secure a handful of new seats for 2026. Yet the flood of opposition, the lack of support from Texas’ own GOP House delegation, and likely courtroom battles raise the prospect that the strategy could backfire—either by energizing Democrats at home or by encouraging blue-state legislatures to retaliate in kind.

The Redistricting Committee passed the proposed map by a margin of 12-6. The map will then go to the full house for a vote on passage before going to the State Senate.

Note: special thank you to conservative activist Matthew Lucci for his assistance with interviews for this article.