Jim Beam column:Texas GOP wants more seats

American Press

6 days ago

Texas Republicans are trying to increase their congressional seats during a current special session.(Image courtesy of Wikipedia).
Republican President Donald Trump and many GOP members are obviously concerned about the party's possible loss of congressional seats at the 2026 midterm elections. Texas began a special session this week that is aimed at increasing its GOP seats in Congress and addressing the state flooding that killed at least 135 people.
Louisiana won't be changing its congressional elections. It did that during the first special session of 2024 when it redrew its election lines after a federal court order. It created a second majority-Black 6th Congressional District and U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge was elected with 51% of the vote on Nov. 5, 2024.
The Associated Press said Trump is pushing Texas to take a 'high-risk, high reward push to get Texas Republicans to redraw their political map. Trump is seeking to avoid the traditional midterm letdown that most incumbent presidents endure and hold onto the House, which the GOP narrowly controls.'
Trump supporters won't agree, but The AP said, 'Trump's push comes as there are numerous danger signs for his presidency …' One is the Jeffrey Epstein case that has some MAGA supporters upset with Trump and new polling that shows U.S. adults think his policies haven't helped them.
Six recent national polls, according to one report, give Trump an average approval rating of 46%. Some voters said they think his tax cut and spending bill will only help the wealthy.
Like the other 49 states, Texas redrew its election lines after the 2020 Census. The AP said there are two terms that explain what might happen when election lines are redrawn.
Gerrymandering is when one party rigs the map against the other party. 'Dummymander' is when aggressively redrawing a map, which Texas wants to do, puts the redrawing party's own seats at risk.
The AP said Texas drew its election lines cautiously in 2021 after the 2020 Census because in the 2010s it padded its majority and lost two seats to Democrats. In 2021, Republicans decided to mainly shore up their incumbents rather than target Democrats.
Doing what Trump wants, Texas Republicans have decided to go after Democratic seats during the current special session. Democratic U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of the Rio Grande Valley area is being targeted.
However, Gonzelez said he isn't worried. He said the Democratic voters they want to take out of his district will end up in districts that flank his and those districts will be more competitive for Democrats.
A national GOP official doesn't agree. He said, 'Smart map-drawing can yield pickup opportunities while not putting our incumbents in jeopardy.'
Texas has 38 seats in the House — Republicans in 25 and Democrats in 12. One Democrat, a former Houston mayor, died in March.
The AP said Texas isn't the only Republican state engaged in mid-decade redistricting. Ohio Republicans hope to go from a 10-5 party advantage in the House to a lopsided 13-2 advantage.
We won't know which party gained the most advantage in Texas until its session is over. And we may not know until after the Texas midterm elections next year.
Louisiana will be holding its political party closed primaries on April 18, 2026, and May 30, 2026. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is seeking a third six-year term and already has three Republican challengers.
Political analysts don't expect any changes in Louisiana's 6 congressional districts. Republicans hold four seats and Democrats have two.
Louisiana legislators were involved in gerrymandering when they eliminated former Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Baton Rouge from the 6th Congressional District. Graves was targeted by GOP Gov. Jeff Landry because he endorsed someone else in the 2023 gubernatorial election.
The redrawn 6th District map runs from Shreveport to Baton Rouge and some non-Black voters filed suit, saying it was based on race. Landry and GOP legislators argued it was based on politics to protect two north Louisiana Republican congressional districts.
Although an appellate federal panel said the new lines were illegal, the U.S. Supreme Court said the new map could be used for the 2024 congressional elections. The nation's highest court has again delayed a hearing, which means the existing map will be used again for congressional elections in 2026.
Rep. Fields will be happy about that, but most voters are tired of waiting for court decisions that take much too long.
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or [e-mail].