State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, set to testify on second day of El Paso hearing.
By Gromer Jeffers Jr.
political writer
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
EL PASO — A hearing to determine if Texas’ new congressional map should be in place for the 2026 midterm elections turned its focus to North Texas on Thursday.
Led by state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, witnesses for the plaintiffs argued that Texas’ new congressional boundaries violate the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against minority voters — and that Texas Republicans did it intentionally.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
“Minority communities were used as pawns as part of the redistricting process,” West testified during the second day of the hearing before a three-judge federal panel in El Paso.
“This is what’s so asinine about this,” West said. “Trying to construct a legal argument to say it’s about partisan politics. It’s not.”
William Wassdorf, an assistant deputy attorney general under Attorney General Ken Paxton who is part of the defense team, tried to unravel West’s testimony. He referred to statements West has made in the past about the effort to redraw congressional boundaries being a “naked power grab.”
In previous statements West has criticized the process and noted that President Donald Trump compelled Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas lawmakers to net five GOP seats in the state’s delegation to Congress.
The distinction between partisan and racial gerrymandering is important because redrawing boundaries based on partisan political gain is largely legal.
When Wassdorf asked West if the process in redrawing the new maps amounted to partisan politics, West tried to give a nuanced answer. But Judge Jerry E. Smith pressed West to give a yes or no answer.
West said “no.”
The hearing has been a back-and-forth debate on whether Texas lawmakers intentionally drew new congressional boundaries that discriminate against voters of color.
That was the scene when the hearing convened Wednesday, with state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston and state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso testifying they believed race was the catalyst for redrawing the boundaries.
The most talked about piece of evidence was a letter from Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In it she warned Abbott and Paxton that four of the state’s majority-minority congressional districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered. In 2021, however, lawmakers said the Texas maps were drawn in a color-blind approach. They gave testimony that confirmed that assertion during a May trial in El Paso about those 2021 maps.
Paxton has criticized the Justice Department letter, but Abbott in several media appearances said the Justice Department letter led to his call for a special session that included congressional redistricting.
During the hearing, Paxton’s lawyers said neither Dhillon nor Abbott were members of the Legislature and their opinions did not bind lawmakers to redraw the boundaries the way they did.
West testified about the North Texas drama, where Republicans redrew congressional lines to flip District 32, represented by Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Farmers Branch, from blue to red. The new district stretches to East Texas and is heavily Republican.
Along with redrawing District 32, lawmakers packed minority voters into District 30, represented by Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas. That district, controlled by Black voters since it was created after the 1990 census, now has a Black voting age population over 50%; in 2021, that number was 46.7%.
District 33, represented by Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, was pushed out of Tarrant County, which is where Veasey’s political base resides. Johnson has announced she’s running in the new District 33, while Veasey said he is considering his options.
Three of the four districts cited by the DOJ, including Veasey’s, are held by Black or Latino representatives. The other seat is vacant and previously was held by Sylvester Turner, a pioneering Black politician who died in March.
West said District 33 and Veasey’s leadership was important because “it meant having a person in office that understands the constituents.”
He said the new congressional maps packed minority voters into some districts and spaced others out into rural areas. Veasey, who is Black, is now part of District 25, which stretches into West Texas.
“Look at the configuration of the map,” West said. “Minority communities were put in districts that represent rural interests.”
After Wassdorf pressed West on his comments about Trump’s partisan influence on the redistricting process, the longtime senator said, “No other districts were targeted. Why just minority districts?”
The Justice Department letter came just before the first special session began.
The new congressional boundaries would eliminate one Democratically held seat each from Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and the Austin/San Antonio area.
District lines were redrawn in South Texas, pushing two seats currently held by Democrats toward stronger Republican majorities, according to an analysis based on 2024 election results.
Thursday’s testimony featured Democratic state Reps. Senfronia Thompson of Houston and Ramon Romero of Fort Worth and former Dallas council member Tiffinni Young.
The Howard University graduate and Chicago native has covered four presidential campaigns and written extensively about local, state and national politics. Before The News, he was a reporter at The Kansas City Star and The Chicago Defender. You can catch Gromer every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NBC 5’s Lone Star Politics.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
