Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas isn’t mincing words about the fight over Texas’ new congressional map. In an interview with CBS this week, the first-term Democrat warned that the Republican-led plan now moving through the legislature is “one of the most obviously racially gerrymandered” she has seen — and that’s in a state with a long history of discriminatory maps.
Crockett believes the new map, which she says was drawn not by Texas Republicans in the House but “sent down from D.C.,” will likely pass. She’s skeptical it will deliver the five new GOP seats Republicans are aiming for, pointing out that several targeted incumbents, like Rep. Henry Cuellar, have proven resilient in districts Donald Trump carried. Still, she argues the intent is clear: pack Latino voters into fewer districts, dilute minority influence elsewhere, and shift long-held seats toward Republican control.
The map comes as Texas is already in court over its 2021 lines, which federal judges found intentionally discriminatory. Crockett says this latest version goes even further, cracking fast-growing minority communities and erasing economic hubs from her own district. “These lines are unconstitutional,” she said. “Every single time they’ve gone through redistricting, Texas has been found to be intentionally racially discriminatory.”
For Crockett, the fight is both political and personal. The reshuffle forces her — along with other Democrats like Reps. Marc Veasey and Julie Johnson — to consider whether to run in newly redrawn Republican-leaning districts or seek other seats. She’s weighing whether to run in her current 33rd District, which now has a heavier Latino voting-age population, or move into the reconfigured 30th. But the decision isn’t just about electoral math; it’s about whether her constituents would accept her representing them while living outside district lines, something federal law allows but voters often frown upon.
Republicans have defended the map by pointing to demographic shifts, particularly Latino support for the GOP along the border. Crockett counters that if Republicans truly believed minority voters were trending their way, they wouldn’t be working so hard to minimize those voters’ influence. “It is about who gets to do the electing,” she said, noting that two of the state’s four Black members of Congress are directly threatened by the redraw.
She also sees a broader strategy at play — one aimed at pushing the case toward the U.S. Supreme Court to weaken what remains of the Voting Rights Act. Crockett warns that Texas’ growth, fueled overwhelmingly by people of color, is being converted into more white-majority seats, a shift she says is mathematically and morally indefensible.
“This isn’t about partisanship,” she said. “It’s about representation. If the people moving here are overwhelmingly people of color, then their voices should grow stronger, not weaker.”
For now, Crockett says her focus is on “saving this district.” The redistricting battle, she added, isn’t just about Texas — it’s a test of whether the country still believes in fair maps and the right of communities to choose their own leaders.
