After all the unnecessary and futile drama of the Democrat’s quorum break, the Texas House has finally passed the congressional redistricting bill.
After weeks of gridlock, the Texas House has approved a new congressional redistricting plan that Republicans say will strengthen their hold on Washington, adding five GOP-leaning seats across the state.
The issue has been a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott, who placed congressional redistricting on the call during the first special session earlier this summer. But Democrats brought the chamber to a standstill when they broke quorum and fled to Illinois and other states to prevent the map from advancing.
Their walkout effectively killed the first special session, but with Abbott calling lawmakers back for a second 30-day session, Democrats returned on Monday. By Wednesday, Republicans had rushed the proposal out of committee and onto the House calendar, where it passed on a party-line vote.
State Rep. Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi), who carried the legislation, defended the process while laying out the plan on the floor.
“This plan originated in the first called special session before the chamber left a quorum,” said Hunter. “In that session, we held three public hearings—we were not required to hold those hearings. At these hearings, we heard testimony from members of Congress and citizens alike. The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance.”
The map, which reshapes districts in Dallas and Houston as well as Central and South Texas, is designed to reflect population growth while giving Republicans an even stronger advantage. Each new district is required to be nearly equal in population, with the ideal congressional size sitting around 766,900 residents.
Democrats blasted the proposal as “illegal and racially discriminatory.”
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, cheered the move on Truth Social, calling it “ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL CONGRESSIONAL MAP!” He praised Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows for restoring a quorum, writing, “With the Texas House now in Quorum, thanks to GREAT Speaker Dustin Burrows, I call on all of my Republican friends in the Legislature to work as fast as they can to get THIS MAP to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, ASAP.”
The detailed county-by-county breakdown maps of the new districts can be found here. On a personal note, I am thankfully being moved out of Democrat Lloyd Doggett’s District 37 and into Republican August Pfluger’s District 11.
Here’s a snapshot of the new districts from The Texan.
“The final vote was 88 ayes — all Republicans including House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), who normally doesn’t vote on legislation — to 52 nays.”
Republicans drew this new map at the behest of President Donald Trump and with his 2024 election performance top of mind, ensuring that each of the projected five GOP pickups were areas the president won last year by at least 10 points.
Those five seats are the 9th, 28th, 32nd, 34th, and 35th congressional districts; two are in South Texas, one in Dallas, one in Houston, and one on the outskirts of San Antonio.
The Democrats currently representing those districts are Al Green of Houston (9th), the currently indicted Henry Cuellar of Larado (28th), Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch (32nd), Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen (34th), and infamous commie twerp Greg Casar of Austin (35th).
My guess is that Cuellar and Gonzalez are simply gone, since the Rio Grande Valley was already trending Republican and there are no friendly districts anywhere nearby for them to run in. Green could quite conceivably run in the now-vacant 18th congressional district, previously represented by the deceased Sylvester Turner, and before that by the daughter of the also-deceased Sheila Jackson Lee, and before that by Lee. While Johnson could theoretically run in neighboring Marc Veasey’s 33rd congressional district, that’s a Hispanic and black majority district (and I suspect it’s getting even more so in the current redistricting), which is a tough hill to climb for any white candidate, much less a gay white girl in a suburban district, so I suspect she’s toast as well. The redistricting sets up a Thunderdome showdown between Doggett and Casar for the Austin-based 37th, unless Doggett (who is 79) retires.
Now on to the Texas Senate, where which passed its own redistricting bill handily in the first special session and will likely pass this one in quick order.
I have been (and will continue to be) quite critical of House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ membership in the Straus-Bonnen-Phelan cabal that stays in power thanks to Democrat votes and special interest/gambling money, but in this instance he has delivered on a very important Republican priority.
Remember: All this was set in motion by Petteway v. Galveston County, a lawsuit Democrats filed in order to save one Galveston County commissioner’s seat, whereupon the Supreme Court ruled that “black/brown” coalition minority districts carved out to benefit the Democratic Party were unconstitutional. So instead of saving one county commissioner’s seat, they’re going to lose five U.S. Congressional seats.
Democrats did this to themselves, and have no one else to blame…
Tags: 11th Congressional District, 18th Congressional District, 2026 Election, 32nd Congressional District, 33rd Congressional District, 35th Congressional District, 37th Congressional District, 89th Texas Legislature, 9th Congressional District, Al Green, August Pfluger, Austin, Brad Johnson, Brandon Waltens, Dallas, Democrats, Dustin Burrows, Elections, Greg Abbott, Greg Casar, Henry Cuellar, Houston, Julie Johnson, Lloyd Doggett, Marc Veasey, McAllen, Petteway v. Galveston County, Redistricting, Republicans, Rio Grande Valley, Special Session, Supreme Court, Texas, Texas 28th Congressional District, Texas 34th Congressional District, Texas Scorecard, The Texan News, Todd Hunter, Vicente Gonzalez
Bye Bye Jasmine!
Jasmine Crockett’s TX30 district didn’t change that much, so I wouldn’t count on redistricting unseating her.
I was under the impression that her current address was essentially kicked out of her district, so she’s got to move at least.
I can’t believe I get to live in Austin AND be in a red Congressional district. I don’t want to jinx it before the mid-terms, but wow.
Weirdly, the Constitution does not require U.S. representatives to be residents of their own district, but they do have to live in the state.
“The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance.””
This is how you do it: gain electoral advantage and use it to leverage a win. Why are Republicans so often reluctant to capitalize on the advantage the electorate provides to them? Are they unwilling to force a defeat on their opponents? The Donks would gleefully crush Republicans if their positions were reversed.
Republicans don’t want Jasmine Crockett replaced. They *want* her as the face of the Democrat Party. It’s likely adds 2-3% to the Republican vote margins in the state.
Center-left or center types that might otherwise split their ticket look at her, believe all Democrats are crazy. They vote for the Republican instead, because they see what crazy does to their lives when crazy is running things. They vote reluctantly for the Republican, because they disagree with some Republican policies to avoid crazy.
I’d put money down that when the Republicans redrew the districts they were careful to keep Jasmine’s district largely intact. There are going to be some Democrat districts, so make sure at least one of them is held by a real crazy like Crockett rather than some Democrat that sounds reasonable, willing to reach across the aisle. (At least until elected, when they thereafter vote in lockstep with the Dem crazies.)
What’s *really* going to be interesting is if SCOTUS rules next term that minority race-based districts (all but required under the Voting Rights Act) are in fact unconstitutional. It recently granted cert on a case raising this issue, and at this point I would bet that they will indeed nuke race-based line drawing.
If that happens, the GOP could, for instance, probably nuke the “safe” Austin cong. district entirely by dividing it up between six of more solidly red districts. And of course they then could do some state legislative redrawing that would likely entrench the GOP for decades.
“Weirdly, the Constitution does not require U.S. representatives to be residents of their own district, but they do have to live in the state.”
This is a throwback to the U.K Parliament rules as they existed in 1789. The most famous modern U.S. case was Congressman John Conyers of Michigan. In his later years, he was too frail to survive in his very tumultuous Detroit district.
I envy your escape. Going forward after 2026, I will be represented by Greg Casar. On the positive side, I know that he will fight for my right to sleep or shit in the street.
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[…] passing the Texas House, the redistricting bill has now passed the Texas Senate and is headed to Governor Greg […]
[…] correctly) that politically Cuellar is toast anyway, since his district was one of the ones recently redistricted in the special session. Maybe the pardon will allow Cuellar to dish dirt on just how Democrats decided to flood the […]