Lawsuit seeks to block new Texas Congressional map

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Texas Capitol Photo credit Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Opponents of Texas' plan for new Congressional maps have filed a request for an injunction to block new districts from taking effect before the 2026 election. The National Redistricting Foundation is supporting plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“The court has already agreed to consider expediting the case against the mid-decade Texas gerrymander, and now we are asking them to block its implementation ahead of the 2026 elections entirely, because it illegally dilutes the voting power of people of color. Texas’s existing map was facing legal challenges for cracking and packing minority voters to limit their ability to elect the candidates of their choice. This new map exacerbates those fundamental flaws; it is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that intentionally discriminates against Black and Latino voters, and it must not be allowed to go into effect," National Redistricting Foundation Executive Director Marina Jenkins wrote in a statement.

The request for an injunction describes redistricting in the middle of a decade "extraordinary and unusual." The request says the new map "eviscerates minorities’ opportunity to elect their candidates of choice" in four districts covering parts of the Metroplex, Houston, Central and South Texas.

The request says the map creates more Congressional districts with an Anglo majority than ever before, and that would leave non-Anglo Texans with an opportunity to elect their preferred candidate "in far fewer districts than under the map previously enacted in 2021."

"Texas’s explicit, intentional manipulation of district lines to suppress minority voting strength provides an open-and-shut case to strike down the congressional map," the request reads.

The request cites an interview by Governor Greg Abbott last month, saying he "made clear that his purpose in asking the legislature to enact a new map was to eliminate majority-minority districts" and did not mention partisan considerations.

"It makes no difference if the Governor and the legislature may also have had partisan goals—'racial discrimination need only be one purpose, and not even a primary purpose, of an official action for a violation to occur,'" the request reads.

The injunction request was filed as part of LULAC's lawsuit against Abbott. After the Texas Senate passed the map, he posted on X, "The One Big Beautiful Map has passed the Senate. Despite Democrats’ petty stunts, we delivered on our promise. This map reflects Texans’ actual voting preferences, and I look forward to signing it into law."

Senator Phil King introduced a companion bill to the House redistricting measure. On the Senate Floor, he said he did not consider racial data while writing the measure.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images