by Rep. Marc Veasey of the United States is not just angry; he is fighting furious.
The congressional seat held by a Democrat from Fort Worth is under threat. He is currently a leader in what is turning into a historic Democratic backlash against Texas’s mid-decade congressional redistricting exercise.
With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, the House majority is crucial. Halfway through a presidential term, the party out of power usually wins an election.
According to Veasey, this is only a power grab by Republicans to gain more seats.
In an aggressive counter-strategy led by Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, the congressman is now spearheading the daily Texas push against the GOP redistricting.
Concerned about his narrow three-seat House majority, President Donald Trump looked to Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott to allow redistricting and create five additional seats that lean Republican.
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Trump informed reporters on July 15 about his efforts to use redistricting to increase the number of GOP seats.
Some more states might exist. We will receive an additional three, four, or five. According to him, Texas would be the largest. We pick up five seats with a straightforward redraw.
Republicans control 25 of Texas’s 38 congressional districts, while Democrats control 12. U.S. Representative Sylvester Turner, a Democrat from Houston, passed away, leaving one district empty.
One of at least four districts that Texas lawmakers could drastically reshape this summer is Veasey’s 33rd District, which was established as a voting rights district following the 2010 census to guarantee representation for communities of color.
U.S. Justice Department officials outlined a rationale for the redraw in a letter to Abbott, citing Veasey’s seat and three other Democratic-held majority-minority districts as unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
The letter stated, “We implore the state of Texas to address these racial considerations from these particular districts.”
“People are always going to lodge criticisms,” Abbott said on Fox 4 when asked if he was bowing in to Trump. I will not be concerned about such things.
My concern is ensuring that Texas’ congressional districts, which will determine Texas’ representation in Washington, D.C., are designed to comply with the recent court ruling that permits Texas to create these districts while maximizing Texans’ ability to cast ballots for the candidate of their choice.
However, Texas authorities have consistently supported majority-minority districts in prior legal disputes, so Veasey, who recently filed a bill barring mid-decade redistricting, claimed that the department’s argument that they are unlawful is a ruse.
Republicans will stop at nothing to scuttle minority rights, Veasey warned, using a baseball analogy.
The Republican incumbents have been steadfast in their refusal to discuss redistricting. The abrupt and high-level redistricting decision has angered both Democrats and Republicans, who did not anticipate a different political environment for reelection.
The Republican congressional point person on the mid-decade redistricting is once again U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who represented GOP incumbents during the redesign following the 2020 census.
When pressed for details, McCaul remained silent. “I can’t comment for a variety of reasons,” he stated.
When asked about potential revisions, U.S. Representative Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie, stated that he was not involved in the process prior to redistricting being added to the Texas special legislative session. Ellzey, whose District 6 encompasses portions of Tarrant County, stated, “I like my district.”
Breaking up a Tarrant County district
In a study of Texas redistricting published last week, redistricting expert David Wasserman, a senior elections analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, stated that the GOP could easily take the Tarrant County-area seat, one in Houston, and two in South Texas.
According to Wasserman, Texas Republicans have a clear chance to add three to five Democratic seats to their column of top of the 25 seats they now hold through sheer political might.
Parts of Tarrant and Dallas counties are now connected by the 33rd district of Texas, which has a racial makeup of 58% Latino, 18% Black, 13% White, and 8% Asian.
According to Wasserman, Veasey’s district might be divided, with the bluest precincts going to districts with sizable GOP majorities.
Wasserman implied a media campaign to retaliate, saying the Democrats would not make it easy for that to occur.
Veasey and other Texas legislators introduced their Anti-Rigging Act of 2025, which would forbid mid-decade redistricting unless a court ruling is obtained. It is a component of the pressure campaign to put Republicans on defensive, even if it is unlikely to succeed in a House controlled by the Republican Party.
Co-chair of the Voting Rights Caucus Veasey convened a press conference on Texas redistricting on July 23 outside the U.S. Capitol. Other members of Congress joined him, including U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who is the dean of the Texas delegation, and House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts.
He will attend the redistricting hearing in Arlington on July 28 together with other Democratic members of Texas, including U.S. Representatives Sylvia Garcia of Houston, Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, and Julie Johnson of Dallas.
Johnson urged everyone to utilize all available tools, including a quorum break.
Johnson spent three terms in the Texas Legislature, including one in 2021 when members left the state to prevent the GOP from having a quorum to vote on voting rights legislation.
Rep. John Carter of Round Rock, the most senior Republican in Texas, said that he didn’t care about redistricting and wasn’t concerned about a new arrangement when asked about it.
“They can’t even draw me a bad map,” Carter, who has been in office since 2003, stated. My stance is straightforward: I back the president. I have no problem with his doing redistricting if that is his desire. I intend to prevail no matter what they throw at me.
Based in Washington, D.C., Maria Recio works as a freelance journalist.
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