Texas Republicans release first proposal of redrawn congressional districts

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A proposed congressional map filed in the Texas House of Representatives appears to fulfill the wishes of President Donald Trump — giving Republicans an edge to pick up an additional five seats in the midterms.

State Rep. Todd Hunter, R – Corpus Christi, filed the proposed map on Wednesday morning in House Bill 4. It is not the official map and could change through the redistricting process in the Capitol. The map has been referred to the House select committee on congressional redistricting with a hearing scheduled on Friday at 10 a.m.

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The proposal moves some Democratic incumbents out of their current districts and places them in another district either in competition with a Republican member or in competition with someone in their own party. However, the U.S. Constitution said that a candidate for Congress must live in that state, but not necessarily in the district they are running for.

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Below is an interactive map that lets you see the differences in the current congressional map and the proposed map. You can slide the white line to compare both maps:

The proposed map appears to target congressional members in Austin, Dallas, south Texas and Houston. Brian Smith, a political professor at St. Edwards University, explains the map makers are “taking democratic districts that are already safe and making them even safer, which then may makes the neighboring Republican districts more Republican.”

For example, parts of district 35, held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, has been merged with district 37. That seat is currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett.

“Merging the 35th and the 37th districts is illegal voter suppression of Black and Latino Central Texans,” Casar said on social media Wednesday morning. “By merging our Central Texas districts, Trump wants to commit yet another crime— this time, against Texas voters and against The Voting Rights Act.”

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Here is a close up view of major cities in Texas and how different they look from the current map to the proposed map:

Doggett plans to run again for his seat in District 37, which under the proposed map has become an even safer seat for Democrats, but at the expense of taking away another Democratic congressman.

“I think Trump has taken a hatchet to Austin and to really the entire state, in order to preserve his one man rule,” Doggett said of the proposed map.

According to 2024 results, President Trump would have won 30 districts under the proposed map. President Trump told reporters earlier this month the goal of redistricting is to pick up five new seats for Republicans in Texas.

Possible subpoena vote on Wednesday

In the higher chamber of the Texas Capitol, the Senate’s select committee on congressional redistricting is expected to hold a formal hearing in order to vote on whether or not to subpoena a Department of Justice official to testify.

The official, Harmeet Dhillon, wrote a letter to a couple of Texas leaders saying there were concerns of racial gerrymandering in four of the state’s congressional districts. Gov. Greg Abbott used that letter as reasoning to place redistricting on the special session agenda.

The nine-member committee would have to approve a subpoena by two-thirds vote.

A memo sent by the Texas Legislative Counsel said the committee has no authority to enforce a subpoena of a federal official.

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