All but a couple of speakers expressed opposition to the redistricting during the hearing held at the University Center Rosebud Theater, which was filled to its capacity of 435 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speakers were diverse in age, hometown and ethnicity, but their testimonies were largely unified by a core message over the night: The redistricting effort is an attempt to silence minority voices and a Republican power grab that Texans don\u2019t want.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They urged lawmakers to weigh their honor, their faiths and their reason for being in office as they considered redistricting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-RedistrictingHearing-07.jpg\")
Attendees clap as a speaker concludes her remarks during a redistricting hearing July 28, 2025, at the UT Arlington University Center Rosebud Theater. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Fort Worth resident Terry Morgan told the 15-member panel that as a lifelong Texan resident, she sees how the state is \u201cgerrymandered to death already.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe four districts in Texas being targeted are all represented by people of color,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt is clearly an effort to undermine the voting strength of minority Texans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The efforts to change the district maps come after President Donald Trump said Texas could play a significant role in ensuring a Republican majority in the U.S. House through redistricting efforts that could flip seats in favor of the GOP. All representatives are up for reelection during the 2026 midterm races.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State legislators typically draw congressional district maps at the start of each decade after every census. The Legislature approved Texas\u2019 current map in 2021, ultimately drawing districts that protected incumbents\u2019 seats and ensured the state\u2019s two new congressional seats were safely red. It yielded 25 Republican seats and 13 Democratic seats in the two elections since.<\/p>\n
In the U.S. House, Republicans currently have a thin majority of 219 seats to Democrats\u2019 212. Four more are vacant following the deaths of three Democrats and one Republican.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Democrats, speakers criticize gerrymandering of current maps<\/p>\n
Trump told reporters<\/a> he hoped Texas\u2019 redistricting would result in five new Republican-held seats in the House.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the start of the hearing, Texas state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, called the redistricting \u201cunusual and unnecessary.\u201d Rosenthal, the committee\u2019s vice chair, criticized the state\u2019s current district maps for bolstering the voices of white voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between 2010 and 2020, people of color, mostly Hispanic Texans, represented 95% of the state\u2019s population growth of about 4 million.<\/p>\n Because of population growth, Texas gained two congressional seats in 2021. Both districts were drawn to include a majority white voters. Those maps are in court<\/a> after a legal challenge alleging they were gerrymandered based on race.<\/p>\n Arlington resident Selena Vasquez, a teacher by training and member of the Democratic National Committee, said she testified on behalf of her church\u2019s \u201cregular working-class families.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies like mine, who live, work and worship here, oppose any effort to disenfranchise and disempower the Latino community,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re opposed to the changes on any of these maps.\u201d<\/p>\n As an election worker, Fort Worth native Cindy Rocha said she often sees voters confused why they can\u2019t vote where they always have, who they\u2019re voting for or why they\u2019re in a new district. She said after she explains redistricting to them, they often don\u2019t feel motivated to vote anymore, and the exchange ultimately results in disenfranchisement.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas is already one of the hardest places in the nation to register to vote and then to vote,\u201d she said. \u201cPlease do not add additional confusion by redrawing districts.\u201d<\/p>\n Veasey\u2019s district caught in crosshairs of redistricting effort<\/p>\n U.S. Department of Justice lawyers argue that Veasey\u2019s district is one of four that \u201cconstitute unconstitutional racial gerrymanders.\u201d<\/p>\n In a July 7 letter<\/a> to Texas state leaders, the DOJ called the four districts \u201ccoalition districts,\u201d which are districts that include various racial groups to constitute a majority. The districts are, therefore, not federally protected, the letter notes.<\/p>\n Rich Stoglin, president of Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County, was one of the lone speakers in support of the redistricting, saying he believes the country is heading in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n He said Texas and the country do not deserve \u201cto continue (in) systemic gang and street violence.\u201d He criticized the educational system as \u201cplummeting\u201d and said communities are deteriorating.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats sit quietly and fail to condemn or acknowledge a systemic moral decay, screaming systemic racism for anything that does not fit the narrative,\u201d Stoglin said. \u201cThese acts of evil must stop.\u201d<\/p>\n Veasey\u2019s 33rd District is a sprawling, claw-shaped district covering mostly Democratic-leaning communities across Tarrant and Dallas counties. He\u2019s held the seat since 2011, when it was created as a voting rights district to ensure representation for communities of color.<\/p>\n It\u2019s 58% Latino, 18% Black, 13% white and 8% Asian. In a redrawing, this district could be split, with its bluest precincts going to districts with wide GOP majorities, according to a study by David Wasserman, a senior elections analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.<\/p>\n Roderick Miles Jr., Democratic Tarrant County commissioner, said in his testimony that the district was meant to ensure neighborhoods weren\u2019t split just because they vote differently.<\/p>\n \u201cThis mid-decade redistricting would not just reverse progress. It would deepen the harm and dishonor the courts, the people and the principle of equal representation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Veasey, who testified at the hearing, won reelection with 68.8% of the vote in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I come before you not as a congressman, but as a witness, because the communities I represent and love are under attack,\u201d Veasey said. \u201cThe right to vote \u2026 is once again under siege, only now the weapon is not a billy club or a literacy test, but a partisan pen ruled by those who would rig the system to preserve power rather than earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n Abilene resident Samuel Garcia said he drove three hours to speak at the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said lawmakers should \u201cearn\u201d their honor daily as they ask themselves why they are legislators.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou know it\u2019s wrong in your heart,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWhen your kids or your grandkids ask you one day as a state representative, \u2018Did you always do the right thing?\u2019 You\u2019ve got two answers you can choose from: You\u2019re either going to have to admit to them that, \u2018Oh, sometimes I just did things just for power, sometimes I did that,\u2019 or you\u2019re going to have to lie to your kids and lie to your grandkids and tell them you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n The audience gave Garcia a standing ovation as he left the microphone.<\/p>\n Three state House members from Tarrant County are on the redistricting committee:<\/p>\n Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth<\/p>\n Rep. John McQueeney, R-Fort Worth<\/p>\n Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie<\/p>\n Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, chairs the Senate\u2019s redistricting committee. King represents large swaths of Tarrant County, including parts of Fort Worth.<\/p>\n The Legislature has not yet revealed any proposed maps, which many speakers criticized throughout the evening\u2019s hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Republican leaders in the House redistricting committee have said the hearings will shape whether and how the maps are redrawn.<\/p>\n Texas last saw a similar mid-decade redistricting in 2003, after Republicans gained control of the Texas House for the first time in 130 years and wanted the federal seats to reflect their majority.\u00a0<\/p>\n At that time, Democrats held 17 of 32 Texas seats in the U.S. House. The mid-decade redistricting effort passed. The 2004 election yielded<\/a> 21 seats to Republicans and 11 to Democrats.<\/p>\n Redistricting is one of 18 agenda items for a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> following the spring\u2019s regular session.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Legislature\u2019s special session began on July 21. Lawmakers can stay in a special session for up to 30 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Leaders of the Texas House and Senate<\/a> have said both chambers were \u201caligned in their focus to ensure redistricting plans remain in compliance with the U.S. Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report\u2019s Texas legislative coverage is supported by Kelly Hart<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-RedistrictingHearing-04.jpg\")
Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, asks a speaker a question during a redistricting hearing July 28, 2025, at the UT Arlington University Center Rosebud Theater. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-RedistrictingHearing-06.jpg\")
Rich Stoglin, president of Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County, speaks during a redistricting hearing July 28, 2025, at the UT Arlington University Center Rosebud Theater. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-RedistrictingHearing-10.jpg\")
Attendees give a speaker a standing ovation during a redistricting hearing July 28, 2025, at the UT Arlington University Center Rosebud Theater. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-RedistrictingHearing-01.jpg\")
An attendee snaps her fingers during a redistricting hearing July 28, 2025, at the UT Arlington University Center Rosebud Theater. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1750614464_36_cc-by-nd-4.0.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n