The Racist Maps Passed The House

Eight hours of debate, zero conscience from the GOP.

Have you ever had one of those days that were emotionally draining, and by the end of the day, you just felt spent? That’s what today was like, watching the Texas House debate these gerrymandered Congressional maps. The debate lasted eight hours.

You’ve probably seen clips on social media by now. Here’s the full video (if you’re interested). I didn’t clip any of it, not really.

If you’ve been following me for a while, especially for years, you may have heard me say before, “This was the most racist I’ve ever seen Texas Republicans be.” I have to stop saying that, because they continue to prove there is no bottom. Today might have taken the cake… so far.

Republicans killed amendments that would have:

• Created additional Latino opportunity districts in the DFW and Houston.

• Drawn a new Black opportunity district in Harris County.

• Several amendments would have preserved or strengthened multi-racial coalition districts.

• Keeping Austin whole in one district instead of being split into multiple GOP-controlled seats.

• Proposals to stop the dilution of Latino voters in the Rio Grande Valley.

• Democrats pushed amendments based on public testimony from residents across Texas who demanded fair maps.

• An amendment to count incarcerated people at their home address, not rural prisons (which inflates Republican rural districts).

• Amendments that would have made at least a handful of districts competitive instead of drawing maps where nearly every seat is a lock.

• An amendment requiring the state to provide Spanish-language election materials in areas with high Spanish-speaking populations.

• A proposal to reflect booming Asian communities in Fort Bend and Harris counties.

Oh, and the picture above ⬆️? That was the Republicans’ moment of joy when they passed their maps. Don’t they look happy that they’re getting their way?

Todd Hunter is one evil, evil mofo.

Todd Hunter, an Oklahoma native, is someone we’ve spoken about in great detail in previous legislative sessions. As the last Chair of the State Affairs Committee, Todd Hunter has been single-handedly responsible for blocking all efforts to fix our broken electric grid in Texas. He’s also blocked renewable energy expansion bills and cozied up with fossil fuel lobbyists.

Hunter was the architect of HB4, the map for these bills.

Here he is making his case.

Now, some might say that Todd Hunter’s district is a 30-point Republican district.

I would say it’s an underperforming district, only reaching a 53% voter turnout in 2024, and Hunter ran unopposed in 2022. However, the Republicans intended to give him a 19-point advantage when they drew the maps in 2021.

This Texas House district is 55% non-Anglo, and the number of senior citizens is higher than the state average. On paper, this district appears to be a competitive one, characterized by diversity, education, and a middle-class demographic. In practice, what this area needs (which includes the cities below) is a stellar candidate who can work hard to turn out voters.

I have a lot of thoughts about Corpus Christi data that I’m sure we’ll get into some time before the 2026 election. Corpus Christi is one of the many cities in Texas that have struggled with voter turnout over the years. And the end result is Todd Hunter and Denise Villalobos.

The truth is, Democrats underperformed in Texas in 2024 by 5-7 points. We’re going to overperform in 2026. Villalobos’ seat should be an easy flip, but Todd Hunter’s seat? We’d have to shoot the election results and let Kendall Scudder mount the head in his office because that would be the icing on the cake.

Todd Hunter, although he may seem small and the area he represents is a fraction of our state, the damage he has done is insurmountable.

Not to say that there aren’t other Republicans who are just as terrible, there certainly are. But when we think about the ones we can’t stand, our minds usually jump to the most obnoxious, the ones on the news all the time, Brian Harrison, Briscoe Cain, or Jeff Leach. There are quieter ones that are twice as slimy, and do much more harm. Plus, he’s from Oklahoma.

Anyone know what Mark Gonzalez is up to?

Once we wrap up this special session, we’ll finally be able to dive into election data, which is honestly one of my favorite things. I’m about to discuss the enthusiasm people seem to have, but I wanted to start with Corpus Christi because I’ve noticed that people from outside Texas are asking where they can help. Yes, there are many places. Nueces County is one of them.

Texans are not discouraged.

Last night, I was on a call with 600 other Texas Democrats, Congressmen Al Green, Lloyd Doggett, Greg Casar, Legislators Chris Turner, Sarah Eckhardt, and so many other elected officials and organizers. It apparently lasted for like four hours. Although admittedly, I tapped out early.

While on social media, there was a lot of anger and a lot of “Fuck Texas,” coming from outside of Texas, more than anything, I saw people fired up and ready to get involved. Ready to organize. Ready to knock on doors. Posts from organizers in other states discussing their interest in moving here and getting to work. And every group, (not just the Democrats), Indivisible, AFL-CIO, 50501, Move Texas, TOP, and so many organizations are fired up and ready to change this situation:

Because that’s what we have to change, we need a movement in Texas, and the racist-ass Republicans are helping make that happen.

Republicans think they’ve locked this state down forever, but they’re wrong.

Maps don’t vote, people do. And people are pissed. Every amendment they killed, every community they cracked apart, every voice they tried to silence. They’ve been pouring the fuel for decades, Trump’s maps just pushed them to light it all on fire. Corpus Christi knows it. Houston knows it. Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio all know it.

Todd Hunter and his crew can gerrymander themselves a false sense of safety, but demographics, turnout, and organizing are coming for them. Tomorrow, maybe not next session, sooner than they think. And when that wave hits, it’s not just going to wash them out of power, it’s going to rewrite the story they’ve been trying to tell about Texas all these years.

The fight isn’t over. The fight is Texas. And we’re not going anywhere.