BY HANNAH NORTON & KEVIN VU
The local impact
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What’s next
District 9 was redrawn from covering southern Houston to eastern Harris and Liberty counties. District 18, which previously only covered Harris County, was shifted southeast to include communities in Harris and Fort Bend counties. New boundaries With the new map, constituents in the Heights, River Oaks and Montrose communities will be largely banded together under District 7.
Three federal judges will determine if Texas’ new congressional map can take e ect after a nine-day hearing in El Paso, concluding after press time. Minority advocacy groups led a lawsuit against the map in August. 2025 • Aug. 23-29: A lawsuit was iled against the new congressional map days before Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law • Oct. 1-10: Three federal judges review the lawsuit in El Paso • Nov. 4: Election Day for local races and vacant seats in the U.S. Congress • Nov. 8-Dec. 8: Candidate iling period for 2026 primary elections 2026 • March 3: Primary elections for congressional seats and other midterm races • Nov. 3: U.S. midterm elections take place
In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court gave map- makers the exibility on when and how to redraw district lines through the League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry case, which Rotting- haus said allowed mid-decade redistricting. A redistricting e ort in 2003 led to Texas Republicans winning 21 U.S. House seats to Democrats’ 11 during the 2004 election—a jump from 2002, when Democrats won 17 seats and Republicans won 15, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s O ce. Eve Myers, a board member at the League of Women Voters of Houston, a nonpartisan orga- nization aimed at increasing voter participation, said the new map potentially places communi- ties under the leadership of representatives who may not have the expertise to represent them. “Both [Districts] 18 and 9 ... have been shifted to include disparate communities that may not have the same interests as those living within the urban population,” she said.
District 7
District 18
59
77005
77401
77030
59
77025
610
77096
288
90
N
SOURCE: TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE COMMUNITY IMPACT
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