ARLINGTON \u2014 In searing heat, several hundred people rallied and chanted on the University of Texas at Arlington campus Monday afternoon ahead of Texas House hearing on Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s call to redistrict the state\u2019s congressional district boundaries.<\/p>\n
The House is holding regional meetings on the Republican effort for a mid-decade redistricting that is being conducted at the urging of President Donald Trump, who wants the state Legislature to flip as many as five of Texas\u2019 seats in Congress to Republican from Democrat.<\/p>\n
Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, riled up the crowd ahead of the committee meeting, urging attendees to organize in opposition to the redistricting effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump has drawn a line in the sand, and it\u2019s time for everybody that believes that what he is doing is wrong to stand up and fight and speak out against this redistricting,\u201d Veasey said.<\/p>\n
Political Points<\/p>\n
Veasey\u2019s district is one of four targeted in a recent Justice Department letter Abbott cited as the reason he placed redistricting on the agenda for a special session of the Legislature. His district stretches through Dallas and Tarrant counties.<\/p>\n
Related:Texas House to hold redistricting hearing at the University of Texas at Arlington<\/a>Related:Texas redistricting will spark brutal fight that could spread across nation <\/a><\/p>\n While the state\u2019s response the the Hill Country floods was named as the top priority for lawmakers\u2019 limited 30-day session, redistricting has come to dominate the political conversation.<\/p>\n At Monday\u2019s rally, Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, whose county commission precinct was redrawn by the commission\u2019s Republican majority<\/a> in June over her objections, said Tarrant County was Republicans\u2019 \u201cproving ground\u201d for congressional redistricting..<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so glad to see all of you here, right here, in the newly redistricted precinct two,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThey jacked with my \u2026 seat, OK, and I\u2019m not happy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n At public hearings, lawmakers have heard near-universal opposition to the plan. More than 700 people signed up to testify at a hearing Saturday at the University of Houston.<\/p>\n Lawmakers cut off testimony after five hours in Houston. They will likely do the same at Monday\u2019s hearing, which began at 5 p.m. at the E.H. Hereford University Center\u2019s Rosebud Theatre at 300 West 1st Street in Arlington.<\/p>\n