A proposed redraw of the congressional map by Texas state Republicans would effectively remove mouthy Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett from her district and potentially expand the state’s Republican delegation in the U.S. House.
Unveiled last week, the redistricting plan introduced by Texas House Republicans could yield as many as five additional GOP-held seats. The draft map—still subject to revisions before final approval by both chambers of the state Legislature—seeks to redraw district boundaries by incorporating more Republican-leaning areas into traditionally Democratic strongholds such as Dallas and Houston.
Crockett, who represents Texas’ 30th Congressional District encompassing much of Dallas, has denounced the redistricting plan as “a power grab to silence voters.”
Crockett said that before the release of the proposed map, she and other Democratic incumbents were asked to verify their home addresses—an unusual move that raised concerns about targeting specific lawmakers.
The rare mid-decade redistricting push could also pit Democratic members against one another in primary races, as the number of safe seats shrinks, Fox News reported.
For instance, under the proposed map, Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas’ 37th District in Austin would be drawn into the same district as Rep. Greg Casar, who currently represents the adjacent 35th District, also based in Austin.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called opposition to the redistricting plan an “all-hands-on-deck moment” last week.
“We will fight them politically. We will fight them governmentally. We will fight them in court. We will fight them in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Texas and beyond,” Jeffries, who represents no one in Texas, said last week during a press conference in Austin.
Jeffries went on to say that while corporations and universities are falling in line with what the Trump administration demands, “Texas Democrats will not bend the knee.”
While Democrats complain about what Texas is attempting to do, they have been silent about how several blue states have gerrymandered their congressional districts to shut out Republican voters. Even states like New York and California, where GOP-registered voters number between 40-45 percent, are grossly underrepresented in the respective states’ congressional delegations.
Meanwhile, Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) announced Sunday that his state would offer protection to Texas Democrats who fled to his state of Illinois in protest of Republican-led efforts to redraw Texas’s congressional districts.
“They’re here in Illinois. We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that — ’cause we know they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law,” Pritzker told reporters at a press conference Sunday night held alongside the Texas state lawmakers, per The Hill.
“It’s Ken Paxton who doesn’t follow the law. It’s the leaders of Texas who are attempting not to follow the law,” he claimed. “They’re the ones that need to be held accountable.”
Pritzker’s remarks followed the decision by Texas Democrats to flee their state in order to block a quorum — the minimum number of lawmakers required to conduct legislative business — during a special session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
Abbott convened the session to advance a new congressional map designed to give Republicans up to five additional seats, a redistricting push backed by President Trump as the GOP prepares for a potentially tough midterm election next year.
A Texas House panel on Saturday approved the proposed congressional maps, setting them up for a full floor vote.
In protest, Texas Democrats left the state to block the legislative process, traveling primarily to Democratic-led states such as Illinois to prevent the quorum needed to move the redistricting plan forward.