The Math Ain’t Mathing And The Maps Ain’t Mapping

The latest on maps, quorum rumors, and who showed up to fight.

Yesterday, the House Committee on Redistricting held its field hearing in Arlington, and the Senate Committee held its virtual hearing for Harris County. Between the two, there were over eleven hours of testimony. The House Committee has concluded its field hearings. According to inside sources, we may see maps as soon as today, and there may be another public meeting scheduled in Austin on Friday.

I’ve heard from multiple sources that we might not have 51 Democrats willing to break quorum if maps drop. When I asked for names, I was told, “It doesn’t matter. What they’re saying in public and in private are two different things.”

There’s going to be a lot of embedded video in this article. First and foremost, during the House Committee discussions yesterday, we learned that if they are going to draw new maps, they will use the 2020 census data. They also discussed possibly using voter data from the 2022 and 2024 elections. I still think that’s going to screw them. Here’s why:

1. They used the 2020 census data in the 2021 redrawing and squeezed out all of the gerrymandering juice they could.

2. Have you seen the voter turnout data for 2022 and 2024? It’s pathetic. Democrats stayed home both times.

Near the end of the meeting, Democrats also brought up to Chair Cody Vasut what I spoke about the other day, the majority of the people who have testified are against redistricting. Because of that, Democrats questioned whether Republicans would go forward. Check it out:

For the record, there are a total of 3,799 online comments (in English) and 12 in Spanish. I skimmed through them, didn’t read them all, but it appears they are almost all against redistricting. So if this were a democracy, the conversation would be over. You can find those here if you’re interested.

Vasut said 200 people registered to testify in Austin, around 750 in Houston, and we don’t have a final count for Arlington yet, but there were an estimated 1,000 people present there yesterday.

In the House hearings, only three people testified that they want Republicans to redraw the maps. I watched all three hearings, and in all of the hearings, they only had three people on their side.

I was very proud of DFW for showing up. It was like a who’s who of politics.

Let’s get to the testimony.

State Senator Royce West gave one of the best testimonies of the day:

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia testified again:

And Congresswoman Marc Veasey was there:

So was Congresswoman Julie Johnson:

Then there was gubernatorial candidate Bobby Cole:

And Congressional Candidate Ernest Lineberger:

And Congressional Candidate Jordan Wheatley:

Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Allison Campolo represented:

I’ve uploaded a bunch more to my YouTube if you’re interested, but I’m sure you’ve seen clips floating all around Instagram and TikTok, because I certainly have.

And you know I have to once again shout out to the young people who continue to show up. Emeri Calloway:

And Yaseen Tasnif:

And the Tarrant County Commissioners are going through their own redistricting drama. Roderick Miles:

And my County Commissioner, Alyssa Simmons, whom I love so much. I can tell you 100% she represents me. I voted for her, wore her shirts, showed up at her events, and now they’re trying to erase her. I’m furious.

Another person in these hearings who made me happy was Danny Minton, whom I met on Facebook immediately after his testimony. I found him and messaged him. He intends to run for TX06 against Jake Ellzey (my shit-for-brains Congressman).

But can we talk about some of the Republicans?

Ironically, these two Republicans testified back-to-back. In 2025, there are all types of Republicans, and I think the mainstream ones, the ones like Trump and Abbott, we see are mean, hateful, racist, just for the sake of it. Or some act because they want to gain power or wealth, we have to remember, some folks aren’t red because they’re cruel or greedy. They’re red because they don’t know any better.

The first gentleman called himself a Black Frederick Douglass Republican and was in favor of racial gerrymandering. He was booed and heckled endlessly by the crowd to the point where Chair Vasut had to scream into the mic, “We’re all Americans.”

Rep. Christian Manuel (D) tried to explain the ideological switch between the Democrats and Republicans since 1865, and the witness hit him back with, “More Republicans signed the Voting Rights Act than Democrats.”

After the Civil Rights Movement, conservative white Southerners migrated to the Republican Party in droves. That’s why we say the parties “switched” ideologically. Not their names, but their voter bases, values, and regional alignments. It baffles the mind that Southern Conservative Republicans fucking still deny this.

Then the next Republican right after him was a young woman who said she’s always lived in poverty and public housing in Texas, but she’s running as a Republican. She testified in Austin, too. She mentioned then that she lives in a blue district, which, she noted, doesn’t seem to matter in a red state.

People who don’t understand how political geography works probably shouldn’t be running for office. Republicans spent decades in Texas slashing public housing budgets, fighting minimum wage increases, blocking minimum wage increases, demonizing welfare, gutting education and childcare, and telling you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Yet, this young lady, instead of doing the Republican thing of pulling herself up by her bootstraps, is blaming Democrats who have no real power in Texas and running as a Republican.

It was similar to the two young people who testified in favor of redistricting in the Senate hearing we discussed the other day. They really didn’t grasp what redistricting meant. Texas has a serious education problem.

Yesterday’s Senate Hearing on Redistricting.

At the beginning of the hearing, Senator Phil King mentioned that he has not seen any maps, nor does he intend to draw any. He said that he is expecting the Congressional delegation to submit maps to the Legislature.

Then, Senator Miles discussed the disparity I mentioned on Sunday, noting that only 80 people had testified in the Senate hearings, yet over 1,000 people attended the event in Houston on Saturday. Miles basically said, the math ain’t mathing.

There was a lot of testimony in yesterday’s Senate hearing, more than in the previous two days. Still, I’ve already loaded this article up on videos, so the two I want to bring your attention to the most are Congressman Al Green:

And Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher:

It’s been all hands on deck for Democrats in Texas.

At all of these hearings, we’ve seen our Democratic Congressional delegation. We’ve seen our Democratic State Senators and House members. We’ve seen our Democratic County Commissioners and City Councilpeople. We’ve seen Democratic candidates for all levels of government. We’ve seen Democratic organizers and grassroots groups. Even when they didn’t get a chance to testify, they’ve been at the protests, they’ve shown up at the hearings.

But there have been a few people who have been notably absent.

Colin Allred has not been seen at any of these hearings or protests.

Nor has Congressman Henry Cuellar.

Nor has Congressman Vicente Gonzalez.

Maybe they made some appearances on MSNBC or CNN. Does that count?

Anyway, it was something I noticed.

One day left.

One day left. Today, actually, El Paso and West Texas. By the time you read this, the hearing will be over, and maybe the maps will be out. Or maybe we’ll get another surprise hearing. Or a press release. Or a lawsuit. Or the Zombie apocalypse. At this point, your guess is as good as mine.

So here we are. One more hearing in the books, one more day of testimony drowned out by Republican indifference. Thousands of Texans have shown up, spoken out, and begged this Legislature to stop. And still, the maps are likely already drafted, just waiting to drop.

We don’t know if Democrats will walk. We don’t know whom we can trust. And we sure as hell don’t know what kind of mutant monstrosity the new districts will look like. What we do know is that the people showed up. Loud, organized, angry, hopeful. And that matters.

We’ll be watching. We’ll be clipping. We’ll be calling names if we have to.

Stay loud, stay ready. The fight isn’t over. It’s barely started.

• August 23: Last day of special session

• November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election

• Who Will Be On The 2026 State Ballot?

• Who Will Be On The 2026 Federal Ballot?

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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