Texas Republicans Eye Picking Up 5 Seats in Redistricting Effort

Texas Republicans could pick up five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives by adjusting congressional districts in the state.

Redistricting is a top priority for state Republicans and something that the U.S. Department of Justice recommended in a July 7 letter to Gov. Greg Abbott.

A special session on the issue is scheduled for July 21.

The letter to Abbott from Assistant U.S. Attorneys General Harmeet Dhillon and Michael Gates of the Civil Rights Division said that Texas’s Ninth, 18th, 29th, and 33rd congressional districts constitute unconstitutional “coalition districts.”

Coalition districts are districts that are drawn to combine different minority groups into one majority within a district. This “minority-majority” can then combine to support one party over another.

Three of the seats mentioned in the letter are held by Democratic Reps. Al Green of District Nine, Marc Veasey in District 33, and Sylvia Garcia in District 29. District 18 was vacated after Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner died in office.

“It is well established that so-called ‘coalition districts’ run afoul of the Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment,” the letter reads.

The letter came four days after Texas Republicans passed a list of resolutions outlining the party’s key priorities, which include “redistricting to support the Republican majority in Congress at the next midterm election.”

The GOP holds a 220–212 majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives. Historically, the incumbent president’s party has lost seats in midterm House elections. President Donald Trump has stated that redistricting Texas could improve his party’s chances.

“I think we get five,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And there could be some other states where we’re going to get three or four or five. Texas will be the biggest one.”

House redistricting is generally completed every 10 years after the U.S. Census. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas’s 38 House districts.

Abbott added redistricting to the July 21 special session agenda, which also includes several flood-related items, pro-life legislation, tax plans, and legislation to replace the state’s public education standardized test.

Abbott announced the agenda two days after receiving Dhillon and Gates’s letter expressing concern that the four majority-minority districts won by Democrats were unconstitutional.

Texas Democrats accused Republicans of using the recent floods in central Texas as a pretext for the special session to authorize redistricting in a bid to eliminate four House districts that have been held by Democrats.

“Instead of using this special session to provide flood relief and disaster mitigation, Greg Abbott is exploiting the tragedy to serve Donald Trump’s unpopular and damaging agenda,” their webpage states.

Neither state party responded by publication time to emails seeking comment.

In his July 9 proclamation, Abbott wrote that the session is to benefit the entire state by addressing issues the Legislature didn’t cover during its regular session.

“We delivered on historic legislation in the 89th Regular Legislative Session that will benefit Texans for generations to come,” Abbott said. “There is more work to be done, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country. We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the districts represented by Reps. Sylvester Turner and Marc Veasey. The Epoch Times regrets the error.