Battle lines being drawn in Texas and California

New redistricting maps in Texas and other states risk silencing the very communities driving America’s growth, said Texas state Representative Gene Wu Aug. 22, as his state Senate approved new gerrymandered maps that could create 5 additional Republican seats in Congress.

Black, Latino, and Asian American voters face deliberate vote dilution through partisan redistricting tactics, said Wu, speaking at a news briefing organized by American Community Media.

As the Texas state Senate took its vote, the California state Legislature also approved a measure creating new Congressional districts heavily favoring Democrats. California’s measure will come before voters in a special election Nov. 4, whereas Texas’ maps are effective immediately.

Critics

But California’s measure, announced by Governor Gavin Newsom Aug. 14, has already received criticism, most notably from the League of Women Voters of California. In an Aug. 13 letter addressed to the governor, LWVC said the “temporary”actions proposed by the measure were unlikely to stay temporary.

”Once you break a safeguard, you don’t just risk one or two or three elections; you set a precedent that future politicians will use again and again. This precedent would invite future gerrymanders in California, including from political actors whose policies we may deeply oppose.

“Long term damage to democratic norms will outlast any short-term gain,” wrote the LWVC. “You don’t save democracy by imitating those who seek to destroy it –  you save it by inspiring voters with bold ideas and principled leadership.”

However, on the evening of Aug. 26, the letter was taken down from the organization’s website, as mailers from the group “Protect Voters First” started appearing in voters’ mailboxes. The flyers quoted portions of the letter and attributed it to LWVC president Gloria Chun Hoo, who had also penned an op-ed for The Sacramento Bee. LWVC said on its website that it is not affiliated with “Protect Voters First.”

Texas and Beyond

“Texas now has the dubious honor of having basically the most extreme congressional gerrymander in the history of voting rights,” said Dr. Sam Wang, director of the Electoral Innovation Lab at Princeton University. “California is about to come in a close 2nd. These two states represent a real low point.”

Four other Republican-majority states are considering redrawing their maps: Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio. And 3 Democratic states — Illinois, Maryland, and New York — have hinted they will do as well.

Congressional maps are traditionally drawn every 10 years — after the Census — and aim to reflect the new demographics of a district. The demographic story of Texas is undeniable, said Wu, adding that nearly all the state’s growth has come from communities of color. “The Latino population has exploded, the Asian American community has doubled, but somehow we’re supposed to believe there’s no room for new districts that reflect those changes,” he said.

Republicans’ Harmful Policies

“Republicans need to cheat because they know that the policies that are happening right now that are causing massive price increases across the board. Coffee, grains, all these items have doubled in price in the last few months. People are losing their jobs. Tourism is down by 50% in many areas. Many businesses simply cannot stay open. And these policies are just beginning.”

“We’re headed straight into one of the probably worst recessions we’ve seen in a long time. And Republicans know that they are solely to blame because it is their policies and their blind support of (President) Donald Trump that is causing it. So they decided that the only way that they could survive is to cheat,” said Wu. The political leader urged communities to fight back against what he termed “true authoritarian rule.”

“If communities around this country do not start getting ready to fight and to stand up to this at every opportunity, our country is gone,” said Wu, the Democratic leader in the Texas state House of Representatives.

‘Packing and Fracking’

Wu and Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel at MALDEF noted the process of redistricting known informally as “packing and fracking,” is designed to blunt the impact of minority votes. “In South Texas and in Dallas, they’re taking Latino communities that have built up power over time, but are more spread out,” said Wu.

“So they take this one chunk over here and push them into a majority white area. So their voices will no longer matter. Then they take this chunk over there and push them into this majority white area. And so their voices won’t matter either. They can vote all they want, they’ll never be able to change the outcome of any election,” he stated.

Saenz noted that Texas existing maps were already gerrymandered to favor Republicans and dilute the power of the Latino vote. He believes Texas is now violating the federal Voting Rights Act, with the support of US Attorney General Pam Bondi. The AG, said Saenz, has deliberately misinterpreted a 2024 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which found that coalition districts are not protected by the Voting Rights Act. Bondi has interpreted that ruling to state that creating coalition Congressional districts violates the Voting Rights Act.

Growth of Latinos in Texas

“That is false,” stated Saenz. “It is impossible not to create coalition districts in a state like Texas with significant populations of Latinos, Blacks, and Asian Americans often living in close proximity to each other.”

”In the intervening years between the census in 2020 and today, the growth of the Latino and other communities of color in Texas has outstripped the growth of the white community. So (Texas Republicans) have had to violate the Voting Rights Act even more because there is an even larger community of Latinos and other people of color in Texas that they must grapple with,” said Saenz.

“Even if we can’t legally stop this transparent manipulation of the redistricting process, it can be overcome if every person who’s eligible to vote, particularly in communities of color, comes out and votes on Nov. 3, 2026. Maximizing turnout can overcome all of the manipulation of the democratic redistricting process that is going on,” he said.

“Fair maps can and have resulted in real change, leading to responsive leadership to address inequities in all areas of life, from healthcare to education, environmental safety, infrastructure, and more,” said Sara Rohani, Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “They are really the base building blocks of our democracy.”