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BumRushDaShow

(156,458 posts)
Mon Jul 14, 2025, 06:15 AM Monday

Texas GOP poised to sink Trump DOJ's plan to 'screw over Democrats': report

Source: Raw Story

July 13, 2025 6:50PM ET


The Trump administration's efforts to make Texas a less competitive state in the midterm elections could be sunk by the state's Republican party, according to a report by Democracy Docket. At issue is a request from Trump's Department of Justice for Texas state officials to redraw their congressional map. The request came in a letter sent by Attorney General Pam Bondi shortly after the deadly flood that killed more than 100 people in central Texas last week.

In the letter, dated July 7, Bondi says four congressional districts in Texas are unconstitutional because they were drawn using "race-based considerations." Three Democrats currently hold seats in the contested districts: Rep. Al Green, Rep. Sylvia Garcia, and Rep. Mark Veasey. The fourth district is currently vacant, but was formerly held by Rep. Sylvester Turner before he died in March.

However, court testimony obtained by Democracy Docket shows DOJ's underlying premise for redrawing the districts is false. Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman, who worked on the state's 2021 redistricting effort, told a court on July 10 that he drew the congressional maps "blind to race."

Voting rights lawyer Mark Elias said Sunday on Democracy Docket's YouTube channel that this admission could completely upend Texas's efforts to "screw over Democrats" in the upcoming 2026 primary election. "Oh, what a tangled web they have weaved," Elias said.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/gop-2673149328/





Jul 13, 2025
Marc Elias gives his weekly update on what’s happening to our democracy and the court cases
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SSJVegeta

(1,117 posts)
1. Making all their safe seats R +10 in an eleftion following D+11 and 12 performances might not be
Mon Jul 14, 2025, 06:27 AM
Monday

"Screwing over Dems" like they think they are...

Bernardo de La Paz

(57,015 posts)
2. Gerrymandering works by making more seats marginally favor Rs instead of fewer seats by bigger margins
Mon Jul 14, 2025, 08:31 AM
Monday

By making the seats more marginal, it is a risky strategy that works until it fails spectacularly. When there is a swing the small margins means it takes less of a swing for a wipeout.

LetMyPeopleVote

(166,210 posts)
3. Texas Redistricting-As a voting rights volunteer, I was amused to learn a new term "dummymander"
Mon Jul 14, 2025, 09:00 AM
Monday

I have been volunteering on voting rights/voter protection since 2004 when I went to Florida as part of the Kerry Edwards voter protection team. I have testified before committees of both the Texas House and Senate on gerrymandered districts. Part of my testimony was used in a prior lawsuit that unfortunately failed. Texas is heavily gerrymandered. My congressional district went from a R+1 to a R+21 as part of the last gerrymander. trump wants Ohio and Texas to re-gerrymander their districts to help in the midterms. I was amused to see that these efforts run a risk of failing

Republicans run a risky strategy for holding the House that rests on redrawn maps
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

David Darmofal (@daviddarmofal.bsky.social) 2025-07-11T18:40:41.292Z

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/11/texas-redistricting-00448145

But in Texas, Republicans are in danger of creating a so-called dummymander, whereby an attempt to draw more seats for one party accidentally benefits the other. Texas’ congressional map already heavily favors the GOP, so any changes to further benefit the party would have to walk a careful line. Adding Republican voters to blue districts to reduce Democrats’ margins means taking those same voters out of the red districts where they reside. The result is more competitive districts across the board — ones Democrats hope to take advantage of as they harness anti-Trump energy in the midterms.

“They are playing a little bit of roulette with these maps,” said Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas). “In a wave election like what we have a potential opportunity for in ‘26 I think it makes these Republicans very vulnerable.”

Texas has 38 House seats, with 25 held by Republicans. Members of the state’s Democratic delegation huddled with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the redistricting talk ramped up, with follow-up meetings planned.

Jeffries warned in a statement Wednesday that an aggressive map could “result in making several incumbent House Republicans vulnerable to fierce general election challenges.”

“Republicans are cutting off their nose to spite their face,” he added.....

Democrats are almost certain to sue over whatever new maps are created in both Ohio and Texas, said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

“I imagine we will have a lot to say about the map they create and the legalities of it,” he said Thursday.

On top of everything else, there is a trial going on with respect to the Texas maps that these efforts may affect.

This will be fun to watch
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