These Texas Democrats are at risk under proposed GOP maps

The Hill

4 days ago

Texas Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a proposal for new congressional maps after President Trump called for the Lone Star State to create five new House seats ahead of the midterms.
The proposed maps, filed as Texas lawmakers meet for a special session initially called after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed a ban on THC, could help Republicans protect their narrow 219-212 House majority by redrawing some Democrat-held seats to incorporate far more Republican voters.
If Republicans succeed, they would also, in a reprise of the pivotal redistricting campaign of 2003, destroy the districts of a cadre of progressive Democratic leaders.
The GOP already holds 25 of the state's 38 congressional seats, but the changes could boost them to a 30-8 red advantage — though the draft could change as it works toward approval in the state chambers and faces pushback from Democrats.
It would also have ramifications for the balance of power within Texas, at least as it pertains to the state's relationship with the federal government. That's because the new map strips one Congressional seat each from the Democratic-controlled urban powerhouses of Houston, Dallas and Austin-San Antonio — cities that offer the main locus of opposition to the state's Republican leaders and Congressional majority.
Here are some of the Texas Democrats and districts that could be impacted by the proposed lines:
Greg Casar & Lloyd Doggett
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, speaks during a news conference about the threat of default with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
One of the biggest changes to the map is in Rep. Greg Casar's (D-Texas) 35th Congressional district around Austin and San Antonio, which went to former Vice President Harris by 33 points in November — while the state went to Trump by 14 points overall.
Since his election to Congress in 2022, Casar, a former labor organizer and Austin city councilman, has emerged as part of a new generation of progressive leaders and currently chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The new map would take Casar's district out of his Austin power base, creating a new +10 Trump district outside of San Antonio, according to analysis on X by Dave Wasserman, the senior editor of Cook Political Report. But while that 'nukes' Casar's district, he argued that in a good midterm year Democrats could still hold that seat.
Casar, who has referred to redistricting as a 'five alarm fire,' called the destruction of his district 'illegal voter suppression of Black and Latino Central Texans, Casar said on X.
The changes could set up a potential primary matchup with Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D), who leads what's currently the 37 th District.
'By merging our Central Texas districts, Trump wants to commit yet another crime— this time, against Texas voters and against The Voting Rights Act,' Casar said.
Doggett said on X that his 'sole focus' at this point is 'defeating this Trump-imposed gerrymandering.'
'Trump is taking a hatchet to chop up Austin and our state with the sole objective of maintaining his one-man rule.'
Julie Johnson & Marc Veasey
Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
The new map reshapes Texas's 32 nd and 33 rd Congressional Districts, currently held by Democratic Reps. Julie Johnson and Marc Veasey, respectively.
The shift creates a new Dallas Fort Worth-area +18 Trump seat in the 32nd, according to analysis by Wasserman, on X — a strong pickup opportunity for the GOP.
Tarrant County, the urban county that includes Fort Worth and is split between the 32 nd and 33 rd, is the last of Texas's major urban counties that is controlled by Republicans and a bastion of the state's far right, with whom Veasey has been locked in a contest as part of a broader Democratic attempt to flip the county.
Veasy's district would remain blue under the new proposal, according to the analysis from the Texas Tribune, but lose his Fort Worth hometown.
In a scathing statement on Wednesday, Veasey blasted the proposed maps as 'part of a long, ugly tradition of trying to keep Black and brown [Texans] from having a voice' and underscored Trump's push for the changes.
'Republicans are bending their knee to a wannabe king, drawing maps in backrooms to appease a man who tried to overthrow an election and now wants to overthrow the will of Texans.'
Johnson called the map a 'disaster' and a 'desperate move from a party losing its grip on a changing state.'
Part of Johnson's district would also shift to Texas's 30 th, held by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), according to analysis from The Texan. Crockett on Wednesday blasted the proposed lines that 'cut 5 Democratic seats out of thin air,' calling it 'a power grab to silence voters and suppress votes.'
Henry Cuellar & Vicente Gonzalez
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), left; Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), right.
The Republican map is kinder to conservative Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of Congress's last anti-abortion Democrats, whom the national party backed in his exceedingly narrow victory over progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros in 2022.
Under the new map, Cuellar's 28th Congressional District would move to a slightly stronger Trump district — from +7 to +10, according to Wasserman.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez's (D-Texas) seat in the 34th Congressional District would similarly shift from a +5 to +10 Trump district.
But the changes for both Cuellar and Gonzalez 'are potentially survivable given ancestral Dem ties & a midterm without Trump on the ballot,' the analyst said on X.
A campaign spokesperson told The Hill that Cuellar 'looks forward to continuing to serve the people of South Texas in Congress and advancing the issues that matter most to them.'
'What they forget is that I'm still a lawyer,' Gonzalez said in a statement. 'We will fight this disgraceful attempt to cheat Lone Star State voters in Federal Court, and will win again in an era where Trump is deeply underwater.'
Al Green
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on oversight on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Among the proposal's dramatic shifts, Rep. Al Green's (D-Texas) seat in the 9th Congressional District would also merge with the empty Democratic slot vacated by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner.
That would yield a safe Democratic seat in the 18th, offset by a new 9 th in the more conservative suburbs east of Houston that Wasserman said could be 'a pretty safe GOP pickup.'
A special election is ongoing to fill the vacancy for Turner's former seat.
'Let's call this what it is: Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans are trying to wipe Black and Brown communities off the political map. It's a slap in the face to the very folks who built this state,' said Christian Menefee, a former Harris County Attorney who's considered the favorite for Turner's old seat, in a statement.
'We're not backing down. We'll fight like hell to stop it,' Menefee said.