s Texas communities struggle to recover from catastrophic flooding, Republican leaders are plowing ahead with an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting effort—a move critics are calling a blatant power grab orchestrated by Donald Trump to rig congressional maps and save the GOP’s imperiled House majority in the 2026 elections.

“Let’s not allow the White House to put its arms into Texas and divide our community,” said Texas state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins at a heated and packed public hearing last Thursday.

Other sharp rebuke at the hearing came from Democrats, Texas residents and voting rights advocates who say the redistricting process is being driven not by population changes or community needs, but by partisan panic.

Why Now—and Why Texas?
“We are pretending that the governor did not approve the maps he is now requesting we change,” said U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia. And she is right: Gov. Greg Abbott is now asking the legislature to revise the very maps he approved in 2021—maps that are still being challenged in federal court for allegedly diluting the voting power of communities of color.

But following a recent call from Trump to Abbott, redistricting was abruptly added to the agenda for the special legislative session that began last week in Austin.