Texas Gerrymander Was Drawn ‘Focusing on Race,’ Expert Tells Court

EL PASO, TEXAS — Texas Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map this summer at the urging of President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), aiming to eliminate some majority minority districts with a plan that’s now under scrutiny in federal court in El Paso. 

“They achieved those partisan objectives by focusing on race,” Matt Barreto, a political science professor with the UCLA Voting Rights Project, told the court Saturday. 

Minority voters* and voting advocates are asking a federal court to block the state from using the new map in the upcoming 2026 election.

Barreto analyzed the GOP gerrymander in recent weeks, concluding it was a statistical outlier – it would be impossible to draw a Texas congressional map where Republicans win 30 out of 38 seats and six districts have a Hispanic majority unless the district lines were manipulated to hit racial targets, he said. 

Barreto also argued some of the new district boundaries split up neighborhood precincts – such as in Houston’s District 18 – in a way that reveals a pattern of intentionally packing minorities into one district to dilute their votes.

State attorneys defended the map, arguing the lines were drawn only with the goal of maximizing Republican seats.

Federal courts since 2019 have considered partisan gerrymandering to be legal, while racial gerrymandering is against the law.

The three judges hearing the case have rarely interjected during the proceedings, making it all the more notable when they do. 

U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith – appointed by former President Ronald Reagan – said some of Barreto’s statements were contradictory, asking him to clarify whether he believed the map was a partisan gerrymander or a racial gerrymander.

Barreto responded that the map-maker intentionally drew the map to meet racial targets and state Republican leaders had touted the map’s majority Hispanic districts, suggesting it was a racial gerrymander.

The hearing is scheduled to continue through Oct. 10. 

Next week, the state will call its witnesses, including state Sen. Phil King (R), state Rep. Cody Vasut (R) and the national GOP’s leading map-maker, Adam Kincaid.

*Some Texas voters are represented by the Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG firm chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.