AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, right, speaks with House Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, following a Republican Caucus meeting at the State Capitol, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
Houston-area state Rep. Briscoe Cain has signaled his intention to run for Texas’ 9th Congressional District — which he and fellow Republican state lawmakers are redrawing to benefit their party.
Cain, a Republican from Deer Park, voted in the Texas House on Wednesday to approve a new congressional map that aims to give the GOP five additional seats in Congress at the behest of President Donald Trump, who wants Republicans to maintain their slim majority in the U.S. House after the 2026 midterm elections. On Thursday, Cain filed a statement of candidacy for the District 9 seat with the Federal Election Commission.
“I want to run for Congress because CD-9 is MAGA country — home to a tremendous amount of hardworking, humble, and amazing conservative people,” Cain said in a Friday news release announcing his candidacy. “President Trump’s people deserve a fighter who isn’t afraid of the Left or Cancel Culture, and will stand up for them in the United States Congress. … I am up for the task.”
District 9 has long been represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Green, a vocal Trump critic who would face an uphill battle for re-election under the newly proposed district lines. Green, who was sworn in for his 11th term in the U.S. House in January, has threatened to take legal action in response to the redistricting plan.
Katherine Fischer, the director of the Texas Majority PAC, a political action committee dedicated to electing Democrats across the state, said District 9 is one of two currently Democratic districts that are shaping up to be especially difficult for the party to retain under the new map. The other is District 35, which stretches from Austin to San Antonio and is represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Casar.
“It is almost certainly unwinnable this cycle,” Fischer said of District 9.
According to the proposed congressional map, District 9 is being shifted from southern and southwestern Houston to eastern parts of the city and Harris County. The redrawn district also would include all of Liberty County, which heavily favors Republicans.
A spokesperson for Green, who instead of seeking re-election in District 9 could decide to run in a newly redrawn 18th Congressional District that would continue to favor Democrats, did not respond to a request for comment.