Trump's risky redistribution into Texas could backfire in a large way

Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, announced on Wednesday that the state legislature would later return to Austin this summer. The announcement was not surprising: Since the Texas constitution limited the regular sessions of the legislator to just 140 days a year, these bonus legislative sessions have become the norm in order to rule a state with over 31 million people. What was surprising was one of the agenda items that Abbott had listed for the session: Creation of laws that “provide a revised redistribution plan in the run -up to the constitutional concerns raised by the US Ministry of Justice”.

A redistribution boost in 2025 is a curiosity. States usually draw their congress districts every 10 years in response to the results of the US people count. The reason why Abbott claims that this shuffle is necessary is a rough smoke screen that mocks the law on voting rights and protective measures.

The Ministry of Justice concerns that the governor represents a reference to a lawsuit submitted in 2021, in which it is claimed that the current congress card in Texas has violated section 2 of the voting law. In particular, the DOJ Texas accused “of being distributed to create or curl up the rights of the Latino and Black voters because they are correct in a language of language about their breed, color or membership”. It was only the youngest in a long history of symptoms against Texas, who had repeatedly had to re -draw his cards since 1964 in view of the decisions of the federal judges.

Four years after his submission, the lawsuit was recently brought to trial in El Paso in 2021 – but the Ministry of Justice is no longer one of the plaintiffs. The Trump government was withdrawn from the lawsuit from the lawsuit in March, and the civil rights groups such as Lulac and the NAACP from Texas left the judicial dispute without the legal firepower that the Federal Government provides. And while Abbott's phrasing implies that the Texas legislators will tackle the alleged discrimination, his administration continues to reject the claims in this case.

In fact, the most important driving force for this redistribution does not come from the Ministry of Justice – or from the Republicans in Texas – but from the White House. President Donald Trump has reportedly supported Abbott to own the 38 Congress districts of the state again to protect the slim republican majority in the house from the stomach in 2026. The president, who frightened the 2018 Midterms in 2018, which opened the door for two officials against him, recorded even more extreme gerrymanders to limit the medium -term profits of the Democrats.

The New York Times reported last month that “President Trump's political team encourages the Republican leaders in Texas … to make democratic districts red by reliably adding republican voters from neighboring republican districts.” As NBC News found on Wednesday, there are at least a few potential profits:

However, the Times also reported that “Republicans of the Congress from Texas were very interested in the realignment of their districts” before they would historically benefit the Democrats. Since 2003, Texas has been spending the last several redistribution of cycles to maximize the GOP understanding of the house delegation. Demography of the state has shifted during this time, which has led to the concern that the move the Republicans could violate more than the Democrats. If you add a title-for-tat redistribution and the long task list to Texas legislators, if you are reported, the entire program seems to be a reward with a high risk/middle school.

It is important that none of this affects the problem that Abbott claimed as a reason for the redistribution. The Texas Republican Party has not even bothered to repeat the false pretext of the governor in its explanation of the special meeting in order to “preserve a significant step to maintain the GOP control in congress and to drive President Trump's America First Agenda”.

Open democratically controlled districts of gerrymander in new GOP voters would rather lead to one increase In the disenfranchisement of minority voters. Inevitably there would be even more complaints that slow down the implementation of the new card. And while the US Court of Justice was unfriendly compared to the total number of voting rights, the judges ordered Alabama to re -draw his districts in 2023 to create a new majority or near the majority in Black District.

Despite the warning signs, Abbott still decided to advance the efforts of GERRYMANGER when Trump visited areas of the state that are affected by the fatal floods of the past week. Abbott's willingness to exploit legitimate concerns about whether Texas minorities are fully represented in the congress shows that he knows how risky the real justification is both politically and legal. In the next few weeks and months, this piece could be crucial to determine control of the house next year – or it could hunt on the air in its faces and Trump and members of their own party more susceptible to the loss of their seats than before.