Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, has been accused by political opponents of trying to “fix” next year’s midterms in favor of Republicans after he announced a plan that would see a wide-scale redrawing of the state’s congressional districts.
The move was contained in Abbott’s list of priorities for the upcoming legislative session published on Wednesday. It features several items related to the deadly Hill Country flooding that killed at least 120 people and left dozens more missing, including instructions for lawmakers to look at early warning systems and improving disaster preparation.
But Abbott’s directive to redraw congressional maps, which the Texas Tribune reported on Wednesday, was in response from a Trump administration demand for more Republican seats to preserve or expand the party’s narrow House majority, and has angered Democrats.
In a statement, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee called the move “an attack on democracy”.
John Bisognano, the group’s president, said: “Despite the fact that Texas is in a state of emergency, instead of focusing on the wellbeing of his constituents, Governor Abbott’s focus is how Republicans can enact a mid-decade gerrymander to secure unearned power ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Texas’s congressional map already silences the voices of thousands of Texans. That’s why Texas voters have spent the last three years in court challenging it for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Now, Texas Republicans want to enact an even more egregious gerrymander, because they are afraid of voters who are furious with their unpopular Maga [make America great again] agenda and horrific budget bill.”
The Texas legislative session is scheduled to begin on 21 July, and Republicans hold a sizable majority in both houses that will probably allow Abbott’s conservative agenda, which also includes an anti-trans bathroom bill and a clampdown on abortion pills, to progress smoothly.
Texas has 38 seats in the House of Representatives, the second largest of all states behind California, which has 52. Currently 25 are held by Republicans, 12 by Democrats, with one vacancy, the 18th district that was represented by the Democrat Sylvester Turner until his death in March.
Abbott drew criticism in April when he set a special election in the safe Democratic seat for 4 November, the latest possible date, helping to preserve the House Republican majority and leaving district voters unrepresented for seven months.
Republicans passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending bill in the House this month by a 218-214 vote, with three safe Democratic seats, in Texas, Arizona and Virginia, unoccupied after the deaths of the incumbents.
Democratic leaders expect Texas lawmakers will attempt to repeat tactics used by Republicans in other states to create new Republican districts by moving blocks of their voters into Democratic areas.
Redistricting moves in North Carolina ahead of the 2024 election changed a split 7-7 delegation into a 10-4 Republican advantage, helping secure a loyal majority for Trump. A six-day trial over the legality of the redistricting wrapped up in Winston-Salem this week with a verdict expected in August.
Abbott has said there is a need to redraw his state’s maps citing a letter from the justice department, authored by Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in its civil rights division, and a former Trump campaign lawyer, arguing that four Texas districts had previously been “racially gerrymandered” to benefit Democrats.
Gina Hinojosa, a Democratic state representative, told the New York Times that Abbott’s move was a “blatant partisan power grab” while search and recovery operations were continuing following the weekend floods.
“I’ve been disappointed in this governor before but I’ve never been so thoroughly disgusted,” she said. “The governor is so heartless as to do this right now?”
Hakeem Jeffries, the New York congressman and Democratic House leader, echoed her views, and those of Bisognano, in a post to X.
“While Texans battle tragic and deadly flooding, Governor Abbott and House Republicans are plotting a mid-decade gerrymander. They should be modernizing emergency response — not rigging maps,” he wrote.
