U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to counter Texas Republicans’ redistricting effort with his own at a town hall Thursday night.
Texas Republicans are seeking to redraw the state’s Congressional map to pick up five new seats in next year’s midterm elections — a stated priority of President Donald Trump. In response, Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state, preventing the state Legislature from considering the new maps during a special session this summer.
One of the congressional districts Republicans aim to change is Veasey’s Congressional District 33, which stretches from Fort Worth into Dallas. Under the new maps, it would be confined to Dallas County. Tarrant County would be split mostly into districts that lean Republican, according to analysis by The Texas Tribune.
Fifty people filled a meeting room at Fort Worth’s Southside Community Center Thursday night to hear from Veasey, with fans being used to fight the August heat. He said he doesn’t like any kind of mid-decade redistricting, but in this case, it has to happen in California.
"I’m glad that Newsom did answer the call, because that’s the only way how you’re going to get them to not do it again in the future,” Veasey said. “There has to be some loss in it for them.”
Veasey called it “mutually assured destruction” — a term used during the Cold War to describe a nuclear stalemate between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. If one country launched the bombs, the other would, too.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who ordered this summer’s special legislative session to redraw Congressional maps, has vowed to call another one. He also confirmed to CBS 11 that Republicans are thinking about seeking eight seats, not five.
Critics of the redistricting effort, including Veasey, call it racially discriminatory — an attempt to break up Black and Hispanic voting power.
State Rep. Carl Tepper, a Lubbock Republican, told PBS the new maps would benefit the Hispanic Texans who vote Republican. And he said partisan map-drawing is allowed.
"We're not allowed to draw by race, but we are allowed to be partisan in drawing on the maps and that's what we're going to do,” he said. “The courts have been very clear on that and that's absolutely what we're doing. We're not going to try to fool you. We're not going to lie to you. These are partisan maps.”
People who attended the meeting expressed deep opposition to Texas’ redistricting effort. Emile Lange, a civil engineer in Fort Worth, said he came to see what he could do to push back.
“It’s unfair, at a minimum, and it’s stacking the deck, and I don’t like it, personally,” he said.
Tarrant County recently undertook its own mid-decade redistricting process. The Republicans on the commissioners court successfully pushed to redraw its own precinct maps, openly saying their goal was to grow their majority.
The county has been sued twice over redistricting, with one lawsuit filed in June and another filed Thursday. They both allege the new map is racially discriminatory. Critics of redistricting say the county packed voters of color into a single precinct to limit their political power to one seat on the court.
Republican commissioners have repeated that their goals were partisan, not racial. The county’s attorneys in the first lawsuit argue the plaintiffs have no proof the county had racial intent while redistricting.
As for Veasey, he said he has to think about what redistricting will mean for him if it passes. He lives in East Fort Worth, and his district could be moved to Dallas. When asked if he would run in the same-but-different district, or a different seat in Tarrant County, he said he’s thinking about it.
“At some point, I have to sit down with my family and decide what’s going to be the best route for me,” he said.
He assured the audience he does not plan on moving to Dallas. Even if District 33 gets moved, he could still run – House members don’t have to live in the districts they represent.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
