Members of Congress from Houston are pushing back against a special legislative session called by Governor Greg Abbott. The session aims to redraw Texas\u2019 congressional district maps\u2014a move opponents fear will further reduce the already limited Democratic representation in the state.<\/p>\n
What sparked the Special Session?<\/p>\n
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to Governor Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton. The letter identified four Texas congressional districts as unconstitutional due to them being \u201ccoalition districts\u201d and current examples of racial gerrymandering.<\/p>\n
Three of these districts are in Houston and one is in Dallas. These districts, called coalition districts, historically protected under voting rights laws, are areas where two or more minority groups typically vote together to elect candidates. The DOJ now argues these districts violate the Constitution.<\/p>\n
The districts under scrutiny<\/p>\n
The four districts involved are:<\/p>\n
18th Congressional District (Inner-City Houston)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
9th Congressional District (Southwest Houston)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
33rd Congressional District (Dallas-Fort Worth Suburbs)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
29th Congressional District (East Harris County)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Three of these districts are majority Black, and one is majority Hispanic. The 18th district is currently vacant after the March death of Congressman and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.<\/p>\n
Political fallout<\/p>\n
Amanda Edwards, former Houston city council member and current candidate for the 18th district, says the vacancy allowed a controversial bill\u2014dubbed the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d\u2014to pass by a single vote. She argues the redistricting plan is politically motivated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad I been the 18th congressional district member, I would have voted to block that big, beautiful bill that is now harming communities,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n
Edwards also expressed concerns for the special election called to fill the seat happening after the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d passed and sees both the redistricting and empty 18th congressional seat as part of a larger political plan.<\/p>\n
Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher echoed concerns in a statement, saying:<\/p>\n
\u201cRepublicans already have a lopsided partisan advantage,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n
Congressman Al Green (District 9) was even more direct.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this redistricting goes through, there may be no Black Democratic congressional representation from Texas,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s a racist power grab, and we have to say it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green says if the redistricting happens, his next steps will be filing a lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Why now?<\/p>\n
Redistricting typically follows the census, but political analyst Vlad Davidiuk explains these coalition districts have been unchallenged for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cDistricts 9, 18, 29, and 33 were drawn along racial lines that are no longer legally permissible because they\u2019re considered coalition districts,\u201d Davidiuk said.\u201cThe law has now caught up with reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texas Legislature is acting quickly, choosing to address the issue through this special session rather than waiting on court orders or lawsuits.<\/p>\n
Current political landscape<\/p>\n
Republicans hold 25 of Texas\u2019 38 U.S. House seats<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Democrats hold just 12 seats<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Nationwide, the House split is 220 Republicans to 212 Democrats, with three Democratic seats vacant<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The special legislative session focused on redistricting is set to begin July 21st. Meanwhile, the special election for the 18th Congressional District seat is scheduled for November 4th.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of Congress from Houston are pushing back against a special legislative session called by Governor Greg Abbott.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[42430,42429,42431,4345,42432,22204,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-58205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-18th-congressional-district","9":"tag-18th-district","10":"tag-coalition-districts","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-racial-gerrymandering","13":"tag-redistricting","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114837407946238953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}