Texas Republicans Launch Trump-Backed Special Session to Redraw Congressional Districts

At President Trump's urging, Texas Republicans have convened a special session to redraw congressional maps, aiming to add up to five GOP seats to protect their narrow U.S. House majority. The move, justified by a controversial DOJ letter, targets Democratic districts but risks creating a 'dummymander' and faces new legal challenges over racial gerrymandering, prompting Democrats to threaten walkouts and retaliatory measures.

Texas special session redistricting

• ▪Texas Governor Greg Abbott called a special legislative session starting July 21, 2025, to redraw the state's congressional maps
• ▪Texas Democrats are considering staying away from the Capitol to deny Republicans the quorum needed to convene
• ▪The special session's agenda includes 18 items, among them redistricting and disaster relief for recent deadly flooding in Texas Hill Country

Trump administration DOJ pressure

• ▪The Trump administration's Justice Department sent a letter to Gov. Abbott alleging four majority-minority districts are unconstitutional racial gerrymanders
• ▪The four districts targeted by the DOJ — the 9th, 18th, 29th, and 33rd — are all represented by Democrats

Racial gerrymandering legal challenges

• ▪The existing 2021 Texas congressional map is already the subject of a lawsuit from civil rights groups alleging it violates the Voting Rights Act
• ▪During a trial over the 2021 map, Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman testified that the map was "drawn blind to race."
• ▪A 2019 Supreme Court ruling determined that resolving partisan gerrymandering claims is "beyond the reach of the federal courts."

Mid-decade redistricting precedent

• ▪Mid-decade redistricting is rare and typically occurs only after a court order or a change in party control of the legislature
• ▪In 2003, Texas Republicans led by then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay also conducted a mid-decade redistricting that gained the party five seats

Republican seat expansion strategy

• ▪Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who represent districts in South Texas, are considered top targets for the new map.
• ▪The U.S. House is narrowly controlled by Republicans with a 220-212 majority, with three Democratic-held seats vacant
• ▪President Donald Trump is pushing for the redistricting, stating he expects it to yield as many as five additional U.S. House seats for Republicans
• ▪Under the current map, Republicans hold 25 of Texas's 38 congressional seats, while Democrats hold 12, with one seat vacant

Demographic shifts political risks

• ▪Redistricting experts warn of the risk of a "dummymander," where spreading Republican voters too thin could make GOP-held seats vulnerable
• ▪From 2010 to 2020, 95% of Texas's population growth was driven by non-White voters, a demographic trend that complicates political predictions
• ▪In the 2018 midterms, a backlash against President Trump led Democrats to flip two Texas congressional seats that Republicans had considered safe