Texas Republican redistricting 'comes back to bite them'

Sarah K. Burris
7h

Texas Governor Greg Abbott addresses former U.S. President Donald Trump as Trump attends a border security briefing in Weslaco, Texas, U.S. June 30, 2021. Brandon Bell / Pool via REUTERS

The push to draw fewer Democratic districts in the state of Texas appears to have caused problems for Republicans, CNN explained on Thursday.

During a panel discussion, host Dana Bash cited three Texas districts that were redrawn to benefit Republicans, which now appear as if a Democrat could actually win.

Speaker Mike Johnson is down in South Texas to help campaign for Republicans there, Bash noted. These are districts that Trump won by 10 points or more in 2024.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Washington Bureau Chief Tia Mitchell identified it as the "limitations of trying to draw your way into a majority, but it also shows the limitations of some of Trump's policies that really play to, you know, your white MAGA base, honestly."

However, she explained, there are voters who may have supported Trump in 2024 from the Latino community and are now turned off by his mass deportations and the capture of non-criminal immigrants.

"Which is why you see those border districts or South Texas districts, in particular, being targeted, where Democrats say, hey, we think the Democrats are — the demographics are now in our favor with a lot of those Latino voters who once supported Trump now saying, 'Hey, I'm regretting that a little bit,'" said Mitchell.

Meanwhile, she added, Republicans are trying to remain loyal to Trump, even when it's politically toxic to do so.

"They are being forced to either not read the room or ignore what the room is telling them," Mitchell said. "And especially when it comes to certain voters that, again, are swingy. And yes, Trump had them on his side in 2024. But that momentum has turned significantly because of his the economy, the foreign wars and his immigration policy."

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere added that the data used to redraw the districts in Texas came from the 2024 election.

In those cases, Trump won the Texas 15th District by 18 points. Currently, Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R) is at just 45 percent in the district, while Democratic challenger and Latin Grammy-winning Tejano singer Bobby Pulido is sitting at 50 percent.

In the Texas 28th District, which Trump won by 10 points in 2024, Rep. Henry Cuellar's (D) newly drawn district still has him winning at 45 percent. His GOP challenger, Tano Tijerina, is at just 34 percent.

The Texas 34th District has Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D) defending his seat at 45 percent vs. the short-term former Rep. Mayra Flores (R), who won the seat in a special election before losing it in 2024. She's now trying for a rematch in the redrawn district where Trump won by 10 percent in 2024.

"That's what seems to have come back to bite them," Dovere said about redrawing the districts.

It's a concern that Indiana Republicans who opposed redistricting in their state had with the Trump administration's plan. State Sen. Spencer Deery, a Republican, voted against redistricting, agreeing that redrawing could spread Republican voters too thin.

In that case, mapmakers would redistribute Republican voters from very safe districts into districts that are closer and less secure. That can backfire if the political environment shifts toward Democrats, and that's exactly what happened in 2026. Trump voters eager to support the president in 2024 are now abandoning him in droves. It's why there might be some Democratic pick-ups in Texas, while they're less likely in Indiana's congressional districts.


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