Redistricting: Racial Discrimination in Texas

• Statewide Congressional Redistricting
• Tarrant County Redistricting
• Redistricting Definitions

Texas Congressional

December 4 – U.S. Supreme Court

Ken Paxton, on behalf of Greg Abbott and the Republican-controlled legislature, requested that the U.S. Supreme Court “Stay” (suspend enforcement) the decision of the three-judge district court blocking use of the Abbott/Trump racist congressional map. Justice Alito granted an “Administrative Stay,” which only suspends the lower court ruling until the full U.S. Supreme Court makes a decision.

There is no reason to downplay or sugarcoat the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Texas congressional map. The Court has ordered the use of a map that systematically undermines the voting rights of Texans across our state. The map was drawn with virulent racially discriminatory intent. Our highest Court has failed us and justice itself.

The job to protect basic rights now falls directly to voters. Greg Abbott and his cowardly cohorts in the Legislature defied the will of the vast majority of Texans to cram a discriminatory map down our throats. But, while the map undermined minority voting strength, many of the districts within it – that Abbott and other Trump sycophants are taking for granted – can be won by strong and responsible Democrats over the weak and extreme candidates Republicans will field.

I’m proud that the Lone Star Project worked with and supported the Brooks Plaintiffs in alliance with the other plaintiff groups who bravely stood for justice against corrupt and broken Republican state leaders. We are disappointed, but our fighting spirit is not diminished at all.

November 18 – 5th Circuit Court

The Three-Judge Federal Court overseeing Texas Congressional redistricting has granted the motion of block use of the Trump/Abbott mid-decade redistricting map in Texas. In a 2-1 decision the Court ruled the map is an illegal racial gerrymander in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Trump-appointed Federal Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote the opinion granting the injunction. 5th Circuit Federal Appeals Court Judge Jerry Smith wrote the dissent. 

Below you will see the Lone Star Project statement following the Court ruling and we have linked Judge Brown’s opinion and Judge Smith’s dissent. 

Lone Star Project Statement

In a two to one decision, the Three-Judge Federal District Court in El Paso with jurisdiction over Texas redistricting has issued a preliminary injunction blocking use of the mid-decade congressional redistricting map adopted by Greg Abbott and Republican state legislators.

The Court agreed with plaintiff claims that the map violates the Constitutional rights of Black and Hispanic Texans in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The ruling reads in part:

“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”

The illegal map was adopted in August following orders from Donald Trump who demanded that Abbott and the legislature intentionally dismantle majority minority districts and deliver him five new Republican seats. Abbott cowardly complied and ordered a special legislative session where Texas Republican Legislative leaders also rolled over for Trump and adopted a discriminatory map that blatantly violates the constitutional rights of Black and Hispanic voters in every region of Texas.

Public opposition to the new map was immediate, widespread, and intense. Large anti-gerrymandering public demonstrations were launched. Formal comments to the Legislature were over 90 percent in opposition. And, the Texas State House Democratic Caucus launched a heroic quorum break that delayed the gerrymandering process more than a month. This provided time for opposition to organize forcing Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Republican Legislators to expose their racially discriminatory intent.

It is certain that Paxton, will appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court asking that the District Court’s decision be stayed. In the meantime, however, the racist Trump/Abbott map is blocked and the boundaries adopted during the regular redistricting process in 2021 are back in effect.

Commenting on the Three-Judge Court’s ruling, Lone Star Project Director, Matt Angle, said, “The Court heard the evidence and made the right call. The Trump/Abbott map is a hostile attack on Black, Hispanic, and other minority Texans, and it is an insult to every Texan. Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, and the Republicans leading our State Legislature have shamefully demonstrated that racists and cowards often occupy the same bodies.”

Overview

Following the Texas Legislature’s adoption and Greg Abbott’s signing of the overtly racially discriminatory Congressional map, several plaintiff groups filed motions asking for a preliminary injunction blocking use of the racist map in the 2026 elections.

The motions were filed before a special three-judge federal court based in El Paso. Among the groups requesting the injunction are the Brooks Plaintiffs who receive financial, technical, and administrative support from the Lone Star Project. All the plaintiff groups are working collaboratively.

To learn important details about the challenged map, read the talking points below. For more substance and to learn the legal arguments being made to block the map, read the post hearing brief and findings of fact filed jointly by the Brooks, LULAC, and MALC plaintiffs. 

Congressional Map Talking Points

Statewide

• In Texas, Republican partisan gerrymandering IS racial gerrymandering. And it’s against the law. Racial gerrymandering violates the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. 
• The Texas population is less than 40 percent Anglo. The last U.S. Census reported that Anglos were responsible for less than five percent of Texas’ population growth. Yet, Anglos currently control 25 of 38 Texas congressional seats – more than 65 percent. Minority Texans have the opportunity to consistently elect their candidate of choice in only 13 Districts. 
• Over the past decade, Democrats have received 43 to 47 percent of the vote in statewide races, yet Democrats are the favored party in only 13 – less than 35 percent. Under a fair map, at least 16 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats should favor Democrats. 
• In the Trump/Abbott map just adopted, Texas Republicans again engage in gross racial gerrymandering to create five additional Republican-favored districts by packing and cracking minority neighborhoods to reduce the total number of minority opportunity districts from 13 to only eight. 

Dallas/Fort Worth

• Dallas and Tarrant Counties together have nearly five million people, and less than 35 percent are Anglo. Currently, only three of the seven congressional districts based in DFW give minority citizens the ability to elect their candidates of choice. The Trump map takes away one minority opportunity district, reducing it to only two.

• Congressional District 32 (Julie Johnson) is currently a multiracial district where Hispanics, as part of a minority coalition, can elect their candidate of choice. Under the Trump map, District 32 is dismantled and reconfigured as a rural-based district. It extends from Carrollton in Dallas County 200 miles east to the city boundary of Longview. Anglo Republicans will decide election results.

• The Trump map then removes Congressional District 33 (D – Marc Veasey) entirely from Tarrant County and reconfigures it all into Dallas County. While a Democratic district, both its Hispanic and Black citizen populations are reduced, and Blacks and Hispanics in Tarrant’s large Hispanic voting population entirely robbed of meaningful voting influence in congressional races.

• District 30 (D – Jasmine Crockett) is pushed south of downtown Dallas and moved west into Tarrant County taking in Black and other minority neighborhoods packing the district and diluting minority voting strength.

• It is fair to say that Black, Hispanic, and other minority citizens in the City of Fort Worth and all of Tarrant County are assaulted in under the Trump map. They are left without an effective voice in any congressional district within Tarrant. Fort Worth citizens of all races have no meaningful voice in any congressional district – including the four majority Anglo districts that will likely elect Republicans (District 6, 12, 24, & 25) and the one Dallas-based majority minority district (District 30).

 

Austin/San Antonio

• Current District 35 (D – Greg Casar), includes large Hispanic neighborhoods in both Travis and Bexar counties who have consistently elected their candidate of choice.
• The Trump map directly attacks their ability to elect their chosen candidate by merging large parts the district’s Austin base into safe Democratic District 37 (D – Lloyd Doggett) and the remaining Travis County population in District 35 is attached to District 27 (R – Michael Cloud) and stranded in Anglo-controlled district that extends east through rural counties all the way to Corpus Christi on the coastal bend.
• District 35 is reconfigured as a nominally majority Hispanic district.  Even though the total Hispanic population is increased, they will be overcome by high-turnout rural-based Anglos.

Houston

• Harris County alone has more than 4.7 million residents and is less than 27 percent Anglo. The current map has four districts where minority citizens can elect their candidate of choice. The Trump map reduces it to three.
• Large African American neighborhoods in current District 9 (D – Al Green) were packed into District 18 (D – Sylvester Turner/Open) leaving only one Black minority opportunity seat.
• District 9 is converted from a Black majority district into a nominally Hispanic majority district where Black influence is erased. Even though Hispanics make up just over 50 percent of the Citizen Voting Age population, there voting strength is overwhelmed by being paired with high turnout Anglo neighborhoods in northeast Harris County and all of Liberty County. It is no surprise that the first Republican expressing interest in running in the Trump District 9 is MAGA Republican Anglo State House Member Briscoe Cane.
• District 29 (D – Sylvia Garcia), which was drawn in 1991 as a majority Hispanic district where Hispanic candidates elect their candidate of choice, the Hispanic voting age population is grossly reduced and then combined with a large African American population. It survives as a Democratic multiracial district that Congresswoman Garcia can likely hold, but Hispanic voters will not necessarily have the strongest voice.
• District 7 (D – Lizzie Fletcher) is reconfigured but remains a multi-racial district with parts of both Harris and Fort Bend counties where minority citizens can elect their candidate of choice.

Rio Grande Valley/South Texas/Border

• In the Rio Grande Valley and along the border, the Trump map shores up Republican-held Districts 15 (R – Monica De La Cruz) and 23 (R – Tony Gonzales) by adding rural Anglo voters.
• In Democratic-held districts 28 (D – Henry Cuellar), and 34 (D – Vincente Gonzalez), the Trump map undercuts current Hispanic voting strength by adding rural counties to the north with relatively high Hispanic populations but low voter participation.
• This cynical move gives the illusion of Hispanic influence, but real voting strength shifts to Anglos.
• Influential Hispanic Maverick County is split between District 23 and 28 preventing significant influence in either district.
• While both Gonzalez and Cuellar can win reelection, they likely must win a higher share of Anglo support to do it.

In summary, the narrative that Republicans are rolling the dice and betting they will get more support from Hispanics is false. In district after district, they hedged their bet by reducing Hispanic, Black and other minority voting strength to better allow their candidates to win with Anglo support.

Tarrant County

WATCH: TARRANT CITIZENS CONDEMN INTENTIONAL DISCRIMINATION

READ: TARRANT REDISTRICTING LAWSUIT FILED

READ: UCLA VOTING RIGHTS REPORT CONFIRMS RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN TARRANT COUNTY

The Effort by MAGA County Judge Tim O’Hare to Redraw Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct Boundaries is an Act of Illegal Racial Discrimination

• Overview
• Tim O’Hare’s History of Racism

Overview

MAGA Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare is carrying out a hostile and highly unusual mid-decade effort to redraw current county commissioner precinct (district) boundaries. It is clear from his actions and history that O’Hare intends to undermine the voting strength of minority citizens in Tarrant County by converting at least one of the two existing districts where minority voters elect their candidate of choice into an Anglo-controlled district where minority voters’ voice at the polls will be silenced. While the U.S. Voting Rights Act has been weakened in many ways, intentional racial discrimination remains illegal in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

Videos Demonstrating Racial Hostility and Intentional Discrimination

The existing benchmark map reflects racial and political balance in Tarrant County

Tarrant County is a majority minority county where the Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other minority populations are growing as the Anglo population is shrinking. From 2010 to 2020, the combined Black and Hispanic population grew to 55.9 percent of the total in Tarrant and increased by over 220,000 persons. The Anglo population fell to 42.9 percent of the total in Tarrant and decreased by over 32,000 persons. The increase in the minority population has coincided with Tarrant County becoming competitive in county-wide elections. Top-of-the-ballot candidates like Joe Biden in 2020 and Colin Allred in 2024 carried Tarrant County while other down-ballot county wide Democrats lost narrowly.

As anyone can plainly see, the plan shoved down Tarrant County voters throats on June 3rd by Tim O’Hare, Manny Ramirez, and Matt Krause grossly cracks minority residents out of Alisa Simmons’ Precinct 2 and packs them into Roderick Miles’ Precinct 1. The plan was adopted AFTER all public hearings and WITHOUT any demographic data or analysis.

The current Commissioners Court accurately reflects the racial make-up and political behavior of the county. Two of the districts, Commissioner Precincts 1 & 2, are majority minority and elect the minority candidate of choice – Commissioner Roderick Miles in Precinct 1 and Commissioner Alisa Simmons in Precinct 2. The two other districts, Commissioner Precincts 3 & 4, elect the Anglo voter’s candidates of choice – Commissioner Matt Krause in Precinct 3 and Commissioner Manny Ramirez in Precinct 4. County Judge Tim O’Hare was elected to his County Judge office by a narrow margin in 2022 getting only 53 percent of the vote countywide. O’Hare lost in minority Precincts 1 & 2 and prevailed countywide only by winning handily in Anglo-controlled Precincts 3 & 4.

Precincts 1 and 2 Elect the Minority Candidate of Choice

In 2022, African American leader Alisa Simmons won Tarrant Commissioner Precinct 2 (following the election of African American leader Devan Allen in 2018) consolidating Precinct 2 as a district where minority voters can elect their candidate of choice. In 2024, African American leader Roderick Miles, Jr. won in Commissioner Precinct 1 (following the over two decades of service by African American leader Roy C. Brooks). The wins by Simmons and Miles secured two minority seats on the five-member Commissioner Court.

Gross Racial Gerrymander Underway

To undermine minority control of Precinct 2 and to weaken or isolate minority voters in Precinct 1, MAGA Republicans are attempting to force adoption of a grossly racially gerrymandered new commissioner precinct map. The attack on minority voting strength is being engineered by MAGA extremist County Judge Tim O’Hare. The MAGA-connected legal organization Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is providing legal support for O’Hare’s racial gerrymander and has secured a tax-supported retainer. PILF led the effort to remove the protection of minority coalition districts in Galveston County and has regularly challenged voter registrations and made false or unsupported claims about voter fraud.

Newly Adopted Racially Discriminatory County Commissioner Precinct Map

As anyone can plainly see, the plan shoved down Tarrant County voters throats on June 3rd by Tim O’Hare, Manny Ramirez, and Matt Krause grossly cracks minority residents out of Alisa Simmons’ Precinct 2 and packs them into Roderick Miles’ Precinct 1. The plan was adopted AFTER all public hearings and WITHOUT any demographic data or analysis.

Tables for Newly Adopted & Benchmark Maps

The tables below are part of the UCLA Voting Rights Project analysis of Tarrant County. They show the racial makeup of each precinct under the benchmark map compared to the newly adopted map. The minority percentage of Precinct 2 was dramatically reduced and the minority percentage of Precinct 1 was dramatically increased in the new map. As a result Anglo voters will go from controlling two of four precincts to controlling just three of four, even though Anglos make up less than 43 percent of Tarrant County’s total population.

Redistricting Definitions

• Census: The official count from the U.S. Commerce Department determining the population and racial makeup at the census block level. The census is conducting every ten years and is used to assure one-person-one-vote requirements during redistricting.
• District: A geographic area represented by an elected official such as a congressional district, a State House district, and a county commissioner precinct.
• Redistricting: The process of drawing new boundaries for electoral districts, typically done every 10 years following the release of a new census.
• Mid-Decade Redistricting: The unusual circumstance of district boundaries being redrawn in the absence of a new census. The process typically takes place only when existing districts have been ruled to be in violation of the law.
• Reapportionment: The process of reallocating seats in a legislative body based on population changes. (The most common example is states gaining or losing congressional seats following the release of a new census).
• Gerrymandering: Manipulating district boundaries to favor a particular racial, political, or other group.
• Racial Gerrymandering: Drawing districts to dilute the voting strength of a legally protected racial minority or to improperly enhance the voting strength of a nonprotected racial group.
• Partisan Gerrymandering: Drawing districts to favor one political party over another.
• The Voting Rights Act (VRA): A landmark federal law originally enacted in 1965 to prohibit voting discrimination through the erecting of barriers to voting, unfair district boundaries, and other efforts to undermine minority voting strength. While the VRA has been weakened by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, intentionally targeting minority voters to undermine and dilute their voting strength remains a violation of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
• Contiguity: A requirement that districts be connected, with no part geographically isolated from the rest.
• Compactness: A measure of the degree to which a district is geographically tight and without or with few extensions.
• Community of Interest: A principle that a group of individuals share certain common concerns, goals and values. The group may or may not be within a geographically compact area.
• Voting Age Population (VAP): Voting age population is the number of persons 18 years of age or older within a defined jurisdiction (eg. state, county, city, district). It can be divided by race and gender. VAP is a precise enumeration calculated down to the census block level and released as part of the decennial census.
• Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP): The voting age population of persons who are also United States citizens. CVAP is an estimated count based on information gathered by the American Community Survey (ACS) and released as a five year average updated each year. It is not a precise enumeration but an estimate calculated down to groups of census blocks.