New Texas redistricting plan may obtain Trump’s goals : NPR

Texas state Rep. Jolanda “Jo” Jones seems to be by congressional maps throughout a redistricting listening to on the Texas Capitol in Austin on July 24.

Eric Gay/AP

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Eric Gay/AP

Republicans within the Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday released a proposed new redistricting map that seeks to satisfy President Trump’s want so as to add as much as 5 further Republican congressional seats within the state.

The shuffling of voters into new districts — in Texas and elsewhere — may play a key function in figuring out which get together controls the U.S. House after subsequent yr’s midterms. Currently, Republicans have a seven-seat benefit within the chamber, with 4 vacancies, and the president’s get together usually loses floor in midterm elections.

Earlier this month, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, added redistricting to the agenda for a particular legislative session, citing issues raised by Trump’s Department of Justice that 4 current, Democratic-leaning districts are unconstitutional.

But Republicans have additionally been specific that they meant to undertake uncommon mid-decade redistricting for partisan goals, with the Republican Party of Texas saying that the trouble is “an essential step to preserving GOP control in Congress” and advancing Trump’s agenda.

Trump himself stated a “very simple redrawing” would decide up 5 seats in Texas. Republicans are additionally eyeing further pickups in states together with Ohio and Missouri.

The proposed Texas map targets a variety of districts at present held by Democrats, together with two that stretch into the Rio Grande Valley within the south of the state and two within the Dallas-Fort Worth space. Another two Democratic incumbents in Central Texas could also be pressured to run in opposition to one another. Lines would even be revamped within the Houston space.

According to Dave Wasserman, an analyst with the Cook Political Report, the brand new map may assist Republicans obtain a gerrymander of 30 GOP-won districts, versus eight for Democrats. Currently, Republicans maintain 25 of the state’s seats. Texas went for Trump by almost 14 proportion factors in 2024.

The proposed congressional map could possibly be modified in the course of the particular session. It’s unclear if Texas Republican lawmakers will launch different maps.

Democrats face restricted choices to counter

Democrats on Wednesday blasted the Texas plan.

“From the beginning of this broken process, Texas Republicans’ only objective has been to follow orders from DC party bosses desperate to try and save House Republicans’ teetering majority,” Julie Merz, govt director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, stated in an announcement.

The get together has been plotting methods to battle again.

Texas Democratic state lawmakers are mulling fleeing the state, according to the Texas Tribune, which might deny Republicans a legislative quorum.

And if Texas Republicans enact a brand new map, House Majority PAC, which is aligned with congressional Democrats, recently announced “a plan to raise upwards of $20 million in order to recruit and support competitive Democratic candidates in districts across Texas.”

Most notably, leaders of some Democratic-led states have mentioned plans to do their very own new gerrymanders — to “fight fire with fire,” in the words of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But there are authorized and state constitutional hurdles in locations like California and New York that might make the efforts tougher.

Democrats and their allies would probably battle again in court docket as properly.

“At first look, Texas Republicans appear to have made what is already one of the country’s most racially discriminatory maps even worse,” the DCCC’s Merz added within the assertion. “Should this map become law, we anticipate Texas will get sued and the map will get struck down.”

Texas’ present congressional map is already the topic of ongoing litigation centered on claims of racial discrimination.

Along with Texas, a variety of states, together with Alabama, North Carolina and Utah, are in the course of authorized fights over congressional maps. Many district traces may look completely different by the point voters get their midterm ballots subsequent yr.

With reporting by Houston Public Media’s Andrew Schneider.