Texas Gerrymander ‘Aggressively Seeks to Roll Back Minority Power,’ Expert Testifies

EL PASO, TEXAS — A Texas Democratic lawmaker told a federal court Friday that the state’s gerrymander was spurred by a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) letter urging Republicans to target congressional districts with minority representatives. 

And a leading political scientist testified that he saw “evidence of intentional discrimination” in the map, which “aggressively seeks to roll back minority power.” 

State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D-San Antonio), a member of the Texas House redistricting committee, said the group didn’t meet during the regular session that ended in June – and there was no redistricting in sight until after the DOJ urged state leaders to redraw the districts it deemed to be unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. 

“The letter specifically lays out districts, and those districts were cracked and packed,” Gervin-Hawkins testified, referring to two ways map-makers often manipulate minority neighborhoods to dilute voting strength. 

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

Attorneys for Texas have pressed Democratic lawmakers throughout the first three days of the hearing to tell the court the map was a partisan gerrymander – meaning that it was drawn purely for partisan gain, not to disadvantage racial minorities. 

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

But Gervin-Hawkins insisted Friday the link between the redistricting effort and the impact on minority communities is “obvious” – that the goal was not only to “pick up seats” but also to “hurt minorities.”

Gervin-Hawkins added the redistricting process was marred by “nefarious activity” and “so many lies.” Republicans wouldn’t answer their Democratic colleagues’ questions about who was drawing the map, how much the map maker was paid, when the map would be released or where the money was coming from to pay for House Republicans’ attorneys, she said. 

When Gervin-Hawkins shared her concerns about the lack of transparency with state Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi), the redistricting bill author, she said he told her: “I’m just a smooth operator.” 

The House redistricting committee went on to approve the map after giving Gervin-Hawkins and other committee members – who only received the new version of the map that day – just a couple hours’ notice about the meeting, she said.

“It’s very difficult to vote on something you haven’t seen and don’t know about,” Gervin-Hawkins said. 

Richard Murray, a political scientist at the University of Houston who has analyzed Texas political trends for decades, testified Friday the new map makes profound and unnecessary changes to longstanding Houston congressional districts that have been electing minority representatives for decades. Those changes could lead to widespread confusion and lower participation for voters, he said, and they amount to “evidence of intentional discrimination.” 

Murray said while minority districts in Houston are unrecognizable on the new map, some neighboring districts where white voters make up the majority were left virtually untouched. The changes made to congressional districts 9 and 18 – two majority minority districts that are combined on the new map – are “consistent with racial gerrymandering,” Murray said. He described district changes in the Dallas area as “clear examples of extreme cracking.”

The new map is an obvious response to major demographic shifts, Murray said, pointing out that more than 90% of the population growth in Texas over the past decade has been in minority communities. That’s led Texas Republicans, he said, to put forward a map that “aggressively seeks to roll back minority power.” 

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