HOUSTON – State lawmakers are moving forward with efforts to redraw congressional maps, a move that’s sparking both political controversy and public pushback ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting and the Senate Special Committee on Redistricting will begin a series of public hearings this week. These hearings come as part of Governor Greg Abbott’s special legislative session agenda, with redistricting rising to the forefront following recent comments from former President Donald Trump suggesting redrawn maps could give Republicans a political edge.
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“I think we get five [seats], and there could be some other states. Texas would be the biggest one,” Trump said last week.
The Senate Committee is chaired by Republican State Senator Phil King and Conroe’s Brandon Creighton is the vice chair.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
- Carol Alvarado
- Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa
- Bryan Hughes
- Borris L. Miles
- Tan Parker
- Angela Paxton
- Kevin Sparks
The House Committee is chaired by Republican State Representative Cody Vaust and Houston’s Jon Rosenthal is the vice chair.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
- Josey Garcia
- Charlie Geren
- Barbara Gervin-Hawkins
- R.D. “Bobby” Guerra
- Ryan Guillen
- Cole Hefner
- Hillary Gail Hickland
- Todd Hunter
- Christian Manuel
- John W. McQueeney
- Will Metcalf
- Joe Moody
- Katrina Pierson
- David Spiller
- Carl Tepper
- Senfronia Thompson
- Chris Turner
- Terry Wilson
- Gene Wu
The hearings will take place in multiple cities across Texas, inviting residents to share feedback on how their communities may be impacted:
- Thursday, July 24 at 2 p.m. — Austin (House Committee)
- Friday, July 25 at 10 a.m. — Austin (Senate Committee, South & Central Texas focus)
- Saturday, July 26 at 11 a.m. — Houston (House Committee, held at University of Houston Student Center)
- Saturday, July 26 at 10 a.m. — Austin (Senate Committee, North Texas focus)
- Monday, July 28 at 3 p.m. — Austin (Senate Committee, East Texas focus)
- Monday, July 28 at 5 p.m. — Arlington (House Committee)
- Tuesday, July 29 at 9 a.m. — Austin (Senate Committee, West Texas focus)
KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun reached out to state Sen. Creighton, King, and Vaust along with the Texas Republican Party for comment. No one returned his calls or emails.
The redistricting process typically happens once every 10 years following the U.S. Census. But this mid-decade effort has raised questions and concerns about the motivations behind it.
Houston residents, particularly in the historically Black 18th Congressional District, say they fear the effort could dilute their voting power and strip them of fair representation.
“We fought hard to get that district,” said Maxine Lane-Seals, an 82-year-old resident of District 18. “Let us be able to elect the people that we, the people, want to represent us.”
Lane-Seals and others have been without a representative for most of the year following the death of Congressman Slyvester Turner.
Danielle Keys Bess said the community risks being divided and silenced.
“If you split this group up five different ways, you’re not only splitting their voice, you’re splitting their resources,” she said. “I need someone who understands my issues... someone who’s living through the same issues as I am.”
According to David Froomkin, an assistant law professor at the University of Houston, the redistricting plan could face serious constitutional challenges.
“The Department of Justice sent a letter to the state of Texas saying that in the view of the administration, the current Texas map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, meaning that the administration on its face is essentially accusing the Republican legislators in Texas, who drew the current map, of having had an improper racial motivation for drawing the districts the way that they did. Of course, they deny that,” Froomkin said.
Froomkin explains that while partisan gerrymandering is currently legal at the federal level, racial gerrymandering is not. If race is found to be the predominant factor in redrawing districts, courts could strike down the maps.
State Representative Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston), Vice Chair of the House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting, is vowing to fight any map that he sees as an attempt to rig elections.
“We will oppose this with everything we have,” he said. “We want those voting on these maps to hear directly from the people about how unpopular and un-American this is.”
Rosenthal added that while Democrats aren’t currently planning to break quorum, as they have in past legislative fights, all options remain on the table.
“That’s the nuclear option, the last resort. I will fight with everything that I have,” Rosenthal said.
Froomkin says any shift in congressional lines will have ripple effects across the state potentially weakening both Democratic and Republican strongholds.
“In order to crack Houstonians across many congressional districts, they’re going to need to also change the lines in outlying districts, in more rural districts in the surrounding area. And that’s going to reduce the Republican margins in those districts.” he said.
For residents like Bess and Lane-Seals, the stakes go beyond politics.
“We should pick our representatives,” Bess said. “Our representatives shouldn’t be picked for us.”
