State
BY HANNAH NORTON
What to know about Texas’ new congressional districts
Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ new congres- sional map into law Aug. 29, declaring in a video posted to social media that “Texas is now more red in the United States Congress.” Under Texas’ current congressional boundaries, Republicans hold 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats. State lawmakers have said the new map will help Republicans gain up to ve more seats during the 2026 midterm elections. Texas Democrats have called the mid-decade redistricting e ort unconstitutional and “racially discriminatory,” while Republicans have asserted that it “complies with the law.” The details State lawmakers began redistricting this summer, after President Donald Trump asked Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional maps to help Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the U.S. House. Texas’ new map redraws 37 of the state’s 38 con- gressional districts. Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican who led the redistricting plan, said the “primary changes” were focused on ve districts: TX-09, TX-28, TX-32, TX-34 and TX-35. “Each of these newly drawn districts now trend Republican,” Hunter told state House lawmakers Aug. 20. “While there’s no guarantee of electoral success, Republicans will now have an opportu- nity to potentially win these ... new districts.” The debate After Republicans unveiled the map in late July, House Democrats held a two-week walkout that stalled, but did not stop, the map’s passage. Democratic lawmakers have said the new congressional map will “dilute” minorities’ voting
Current district map
New district map
31
Williamson 31
Williamson
11
17
17
Travis 10
10
37
Travis
37
10
35
27
21 Hays
Bastrop
21
Bastrop 27
Hays
N
N
NOTE: NUMBERS INDICATE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS
SOURCE: TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL COMMUNITY IMPACT
discussed in court two months earlier. After state senators approved the map Aug. 23, the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of Texas residents led a lawsuit asking that the map be blocked from becoming law. A panel of federal judges scheduled an Oct. 1-10 hearing in El Paso. The same three-judge panel is separately considering legal challenges to Texas’ current congressional maps, which were approved in 2021. “We have high con dence that the courts will actually nd these maps to be illegal,” Rep. Gene Wu, D Houston, told reporters Aug. 18. “The ques- tion is more about the timing of it and whether or not there’s enough time left.”
power by dividing historically Black and Hispanic communities into multiple congressional districts. “Texans and Americans all across the country are watching,” Rep. Chris Turner, D Grand Prairie, said on the House oor Aug. 20. “They know this map before us is a calculated maneuver to diminish the voices of the very communities that power Texas.” Republicans have maintained that the map was drafted to bene t GOP congressional candidates and that race was not considered when the new lines were drawn. What’s next Texas’ new congressional map is set to take e ect in early December, although it will be
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