Texas Democrat: Trump redistricting effort ‘five-alarm fire'

The Hill

4 days ago

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) warned that GOP redistricting efforts in The Lone Star State represent a 'five-alarm fire' and urged Democrats to push back,.
'This is a five-alarm fire, what's happening in Texas. Donald Trump has already said that if he does this to Texas, he wants to do this all across the country,' the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus told Rolling Stone in a Friday interview.
President Trump said earlier this week that he hopes Republicans will pick up five House seats in the 2026 midterms as a result of the redistricting plan the state legislature hopes to work on during an upcoming special legislative session.
The president said a 'very simple redrawing' could get the GOP five additional House seats, adding that he would be 'OK' with blue-leaning states New York and California potentially doing the same to increase the number of seats for Democrats.
'I think we'll get five. And there could be some other states we're going to get another three, or four or five in addition,' Trump said on Tuesday. 'Texas would be the biggest one.'
It is unclear if Casar's district, which includes parts of Austin, would be affected.
'I don't know, and virtually no members of Congress know. Even the Republican members say they have not seen these maps and that it makes them nervous,' Casar said.
Casar, who won his reelection bid by nearly 35 points last November, said the Texas map is 'already illegal and gerrymandered.'
'What Donald Trump wants to do by trying to gerrymander five more seats in Texas [is to] essentially end the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as we know it,' the Texas Democrat said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said last week that redistricting would be addressed during the next legislative session due to 'constitutional concerns raised by' the Justice Department.
House Democrats have criticized both Trump and his Republican allies, who have pushed to change Texas's congressional lines before the 2026 election cycle, arguing the effort seeks to ensure Republicans retain the majority in the lower chamber.
'It's painfully clear why Republicans are doing this: They know they are going to lose the majority next year,' Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), who leads the House Democrats' campaign arm, said to journalists on Tuesday. 'Republicans know they can't win on their failed agenda, so they've hatched a scheme to rig the Texas map to try to save their microscopic majority.'
In response to the redistricting efforts, Casar said during the interview that Democrats must consider 'every option on the table.'
'That includes quorum breaks, filibusters, marching in the street, pressure on the Speaker of the House, [and] well-funded campaigning against every Republican member of Congress who goes along with this,' he said.