Texas redistribution hearing falls into chaos
Isaiah Martin, a Democrat running for Houston’s 18th Congressional District, had to be detained, removed and removed from a House Committee hearing on Thursday after exceeding the time he was testified. (Isaiya Martin via Storyful)
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President Donald Trump and Republicans are sprinting at full speed with extraordinary driving forces to redraw maps of Congressional districts ahead of next year’s midterm elections, in which the GOP defends a majority of the razor-sparkly home.
And Democrats are trying to counter the controversial moves of Republicans.
Texas GOP State Assemblyman will release a map of the proposed new legislative district on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the top House Democrats are scheduled to travel to Texas to meet with state legislative Democrats on Wednesday evening at a meeting in Austin.
Texas Democrats are preparing to flee the red state to blunt rezoning the GOP Congress
Republican lawmakers in the Texas state legislature were able to unveil the new Congressional District Map, which was proposed as early as Wednesday. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of “fearing voters in the mid-term elections in 2026 and trying to trick them in order to win.”
The Republican push in Texas is part of a broader effort by the domestic GOP, maintaining control of the home and part of cushion losses elsewhere in the country.
The Texas government says it “flighted” a nation that “flighted” with its election bill.
Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened in his first term at the White House when Democrats raided in the middle of 2018 to win a majority of the home.
“Texas will be the biggest,” the president recently told reporters. Because he predicted the number of GOP-friendly seats that could certainly be added by rezoning in the Red State. “Simply redrawing and you’ll pick up five seats.”
President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, will speak to reporters when he leaves the White House on July 15, 2025 (AP)
Democrats manage only 12 of the state’s 38 Congressional Districts, with seats that tend to be blue-tendent after the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner.
The idea for the GOP is to move Democrat voters from their competitive seats to the nearby GOP Leaning district, and Republican voters to nearby neighborhoods currently controlled by Democrats.
Both conservative Republicans and Trump allies, Gov. Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick, said they need to be redistributed due to constitutional concerns raised by the Justice Department over a small minority-controlled district.
Court sidetrack rezoning battles in major battlefield states
However, this movement is potentially dangerous.
“There’s a risk that a safe Republican seat makes it even more competitive, but I think incumbents are certainly worried about it,” veteran Texas-based Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser recently told Fox News. “When I talk to Republicans in Congress, they’ll be worried about their seats. They don’t want to be in a more competitive seat.”
“It’s a Republican trade-off, if you want to grow the majority,” Steinhauser said.
But he added, “The people who draw the maps…they don’t want to be too competitive because it beats the purpose.”
Rezoning usually takes place at the start of each decade, based on the latest US census data. Mid-term rezoning is rare, but it is not without precedent.
Democrats have denounced Trump and Texas Republicans for what they describe as grabs of power, and have vowed to take legal action to prevent changes to the current map of Congress.
And Democrats in blue-controlled states are now trying to fight fire with fire.
“They can play this game,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently wrote on social media.
The following day, after the meeting, Democrats from California’s Congressional Delegation said they had ambitious plans to win at least five seats through district changes. The Democrats currently control 43 of Golden State’s 52 Congressional Districts.
California Democrat Gavin Newsom is considering launching a rezoning push in his blue state to counter the ongoing Republican efforts in Red State Texas. (Paulsteinhauser – Fox News)
Jeffries heads to California for a meeting with the State Democrats after a two-day stop in Texas.
But in California, it is not easy to enact change as the maps of Congress are drawn by independent committees that are not supposed to affect their work on partisanship.
Newsom suggests that the national Democrat-controlled Congress may not be banned by the 17-year-old voting initiative that created the Independence Committee, moving forward with a mid-term redrawn map.
The governor also proposed to hold a special election promptly to abolish the committee ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Both plans are considered long shots. Because they face many legislative, legal and financial hurdles.
Democrats in other largely populated blue states, including New York, Illinois and New Jersey, are also considering making changes to the map, but the state’s constitution has restrictions inscribed.
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Meanwhile, Ohio has required a change of district this year by law, allowing GOP to offer up to three Congressional seats by redrawing maps.
Republicans are also pondering mid-term rezoning that could potentially give GOPs more house seats in red states like Florida, Missouri and Indiana.
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in swing state in New Hampshire. He covers campaign trails from coast to coast. ”
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