{"id":95112,"date":"2025-07-26T21:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T21:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/95112\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T21:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T21:53:09","slug":"texas-house-hears-redistricting-concerns-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/95112\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas House hears redistricting concerns in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.\n<\/p>\n

The Texas House\u2019s redistricting committee visited Houston on Saturday to hear out local residents\u2019 concerns on the state Legislature\u2019s plans to consider redrawing nearly a handful of congressional districts in Texas \u2014 all of which are held by Black or Latino Democrats, three in the Houston area.<\/p>\n

But the testimony portion of the hearing, limited to five hours, had to wait while Democratic committee members spent the first hour grilling committee Chair Cody Vasut<\/a> on why they were there in the first place. Testimony continued into late Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

When Vasut, R-Angleton, welcomed the standing-room only crowd for the committee\u2019s second \u201cpublic testimony regarding a revised congressional redistricting plan,\u201d state Rep. Senfronia Thompson<\/a>, D-Houston, offered a correction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to advise the public that they would not be testifying on a revised congressional redistricting plan, because there is no revised congressional redistricting plan,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The state has not publicly revealed proposed revisions of the state\u2019s congressional district map, which was drawn in 2021 following the 2020 census. Critics of the mid-decade redistricting process raised questions about why the committee is hosting public hearings before maps are on the table.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jolanda Jones<\/a>, D-Houston, noted to Vasut that the hundreds of people who signed up to speak \u2014 residents who were either crowded in the University of Houston\u2019s Student Center or waiting outside \u2014 were \u201cunable to testify as to how they will be negatively or positively affected by any maps, because there are no maps filed for anybody to testify to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones asked Vasut if Texans will have the same opportunity to speak up once the maps were made public, to which he said: \u201c1,000%… There is no proposed map pending before the committee at this time for which public testimony will be offered, but we will have a hearing if such a map is filed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish that this Legislature were working on redistricting fairness rather than gerrymandering,\u201d said Jerome Wald, a longtime Houston resident of the 7th Congressional District. \u201cInstead, I’m here to testify against this harmful attempt to redraw congressional districts in the middle of the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wald asked Vasut for \u201cat least five days to review the maps\u201d once they\u2019re made public before a hearing, and for \u201cat least five days to review any proposed changes in the maps\u201d ahead of a vote.<\/p>\n

Testimony from Houston-area congressional leaders took up at the next two hours. While some representatives questioned Vasut on the purpose of the hearing, U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia<\/a>, D-Houston, was assertive in her testimony that there wasn\u2019t one.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy answer is hell no, we don’t need to be doing this,\u201d said Garcia, who represents the 29th district, one of the districts the Legislature is targeting.<\/p>\n

Redrawing the state\u2019s congressional maps is one of 30 items Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> intends to get through during the 30-day special legislative session that started on Monday.<\/p>\n

State House Democrats spent much of the mid-day hearing defending congressional districts that wouldn\u2019t affect their own seats, and Garcia said, \u201cYou all should really be back in Austin passing legislation to support families in the Hill Country after the devastating flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, we’re here today playing political games to appease the felon in the White House,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Garcia was joined by fellow Democratic U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett<\/a> of Dallas and Lizzie Fletcher<\/a> on a panel before the committee. U.S. Rep. Al Green<\/a>, D-Houston, spoke as part of a subsequent panel \u2014 who were all asking the state to leave Houston\u2019s districts alone.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration recently pushed Abbott and state representatives to give Republicans a stronger footing in the U.S. House ahead of the 2026 midterm election.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice put out a legal rationale, alleging that four Texas districts, including the 9th, 18th and 29th congressional seats in Houston, constitute illegal racial gerrymanders. (The fourth district in question is the 33rd Congressional District, currently held by U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth.)<\/p>\n

DOJ lawyers in a letter argue<\/a> that they\u2019re coalition districts \u2014 when various racial groups are combined to constitute a majority \u2014 and do not qualify for federal protection under the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n

Democrats are fighting hard against this because Republicans can work to flip reliably blue Houston-based districts by moving left-leaning precincts into neighboring Republican districts in the county\u2019s suburbs.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jon Rosenthal<\/a>, D-Houston, vice chair of the House Committee on Redistricting, pointed to the very district the hearing was being held as an example of what\u2019s being threatened: the historic 18th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say historic, I mean historic,\u201d Rosenthal said, naming previous Black representatives the district has elected. \u201cThis district gave us Barbara Jordan, George \u201cMickey\u201d Leland, Craig Washington, Sheila Jackson Lee and the late great Sylvester Turner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThree of these four districts called out just happen to be represented by African American representatives \u2014 tell me that that is not a racist attack on our Black reps.,\u201d Rosenthal said.<\/p>\n

Redrawing districts that dilute the voting power of communities of color is sure to draw legal complaints. Several Democratic seats in Houston were explicitly drawn to allow such communities to elect a candidate of their preference by ensuring they constitute a majority in a congressional district, in accordance with the Voting Rights Act. The 29th Congressional District which is about 75% Latino, for example, was drawn as a majority-Latino district has only ever elected Democrats to Congress.<\/p>\n

The 2020 census showed that Texas\u2019 population grew by nearly 4 million people, and 95% of that growth is made up of people of color<\/a> in blue urban areas. But, Democrats argue, the Legislature seems to be making moves that secure more Republican seats. In Houston, population growth is being concentrated in Asian American voters.<\/p>\n

Despite making up over 7% of Harris County and over 22 percent of neighboring Fort Bend County in the 2020 Census, Asian Americans do not constitute a plurality in any Houston-based congressional district \u2014 an example of how certain voting groups can be divided by district lines and have their voting power watered down.<\/p>\n

After a push from two Texas Democrats, the state Senate\u2019s redistricting committee sent a letter to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, requesting her to testify before them.<\/p>\n

Nine of Texas\u2019 38 congressional districts contain part of Harris County \u2014 four represented by Democrats, and five by Republicans.<\/p>\n

But Democratic committee representatives on Saturday reminded Republicans that just a few years ago, they were content with the state\u2019s congressional map.<\/p>\n

They pointed to statements from Republican state leaders \u2014 including Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> and state Sen. Joan Huffman<\/a>, who chairs the Senate redistricting committee \u2014 who said in 2021, when the state\u2019s current legislative maps were passed, that they drew the districts \u201crace blind.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s left Democrats confused about why Republicans are now alleging that the maps are unfair \u2014 maps Vasut voted in favor of in 2021.<\/p>\n

“You’re aware that the Republicans drew this map that now the Republicans saying are now illegal,\u201d said state Rep. Armando Walle<\/a>, D-Houston.<\/p>\n

Lynita Robinson, a Houston resident, told the committee that there\u2019s a lot on the line when it comes to redrawing district lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you fracture and manipulate districts, you weaken our collective power to push for economic opportunity for fair wages, infrastructure and education,\u201d she said. \u201cYou undercut racial justice by silencing the very voices that continue to call out discrimination in health care, housing and policing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s not allow the maps to become another full tool of injustice,\u201d she added. \u201cLet’s make a blueprint for equity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington correspondent Gabby Birenbaum contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: University of Houston has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2025 Redistricting<\/p>\n