Abbott's Bid to Blame DOJ for Map Effort
Could Be Hot Topic in First Court Hearing
Capitol Inside
September 30, 2025
Governor Greg Abbott's false claims on the rationale for a mid-decade redistricting push could be a pivotal issue in a federal court hearing this week when Democrats and their lawyers attempt to show that a new congressional map was drawn to boost the GOP by discriminating against minority voters.
The Texas remap fight will be shifting from the statehouse to the courthouse when a three-judge panel in El Paso hears from an array of witnesses for plaintiffs who will testify that the U.S. House plan is an illegal product of racial discrimination and should be blocked from taking effect as a result.
The Republicans will counter with witnesses for the defense who will insist that the congressional map was based solely on partisan considerations without regard for race. The state's attorneys plan to call the GOP lawmakers who chaired special redistricting committees in two special sessions - State Senator Phil King of Weatherford and Cody Vasut of Angleton - to the stand during the hearing this week.
The state's list of witnesses includes Adam Kincaid, the
executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust and map-making mastermind. Christina Adkins, the director of elections for Secretary of State Jane Nelson's office, is slated to be a witness for the defendants as well.
Four Democratic legislators - State Senators Carol Alvarado of Houston and Royce West of Dallas and State Reps. Joe Moody of El Paso and Ramon Romero of Fort Worth - are expected to take the stand for the plaintiffs at the hearing this week.
Sean Trende - the senior election analyst for Real Clear Politics - is listed as a probable witness for both the plaintiffs and the state. Trende has appeared on both Fox News and CNN as a guest commentator. The defendants' attorneys also plan to call Jeffrey Lewis, a UCLA professor who was a central figure in court fights on redistricting plans in North Carolina.
Democratic pollster Matt Barreto is expected to take the stand for the plaintiffs as an expert on Hispanic voting trends. Barreto has argued that Republican gains in South Texas and border areas were a direct function of President Donald Trump's popularity with Latinos in 2020 and 2024 and did not transfer down the ballot to other candidates for the GOP.
But Abbott's initial reason for a midstream redistricting effort could be a central point of dispute at the hearing in El Paso this week. The governor contended in July that the state has to redraw U.S. House boundaries in Texas because the Department of Justice had objected to districts that it claimed to be products of racial discrimination that favored Black Democrats. The state disavowed the governor's reasoning in filings with the federal court last week.
more to come ....
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