Governor Abbott adds redistricting to the Texas special session agenda amid DOJ’s racial gerrymandering concerns.
AUSTIN, Texas — With less than a week before Texas lawmakers return to Austin, Governor Greg Abbott has added redistricting to the agenda for the upcoming special legislative session. The decision follows a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice warning that four of the state’s congressional districts are out of compliance with federal law.
The DOJ contends that Districts 9, 18, 29, and 33, three in Harris County and one in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 due to what the department describes as racial gerrymandering. According to the DOJ, these majority-minority districts unlawfully combine two minority groups into a single minority district, undermining their representation.
State leaders from both parties weighed in on the controversy, with concerns stretching across ideological lines.
“It’s going to change districts throughout the entire state, whether they are white, Democratic, Republican,” said Democratic State Representative Christian Manuel, who represents District 22. “It’s very unusual, and I think it’s going to be very damaging to the state long term.”
Manuel, who will be the sole representative from Southeast Texas on the redistricting committee, said he plans to be directly involved in the process. “I’m going to be in Austin. I sit on the redistricting committee. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens,” he said.
Joe Evans, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, emphasized the importance of ensuring districts are based on population rather than race. “Districts need to be drawn or redrawn to make sure that people are receiving the proper representation that they should be receiving in Congress,” Evans said. “I think it’s a good thing. I think when we gerrymander and rig things up to suit ourselves, it’s always a bad thing.”
Still, Evans cautioned that the redistricting process is unlikely to go unchallenged. “I suspect that if we do redistricting this special session, there’s going to be a steep legal challenge mounted against it,” he said.
The special session begins Monday and is set to address more than 18 topics, with redistricting now among the most closely watched.