Who Really Loses In Texas’s Gerrymandering Battle?

There’s a full-blown power grab happening in Texas. 

It’s called gerrymandering, and while it might sound like just another wonky political term, it’s one of the most dangerous threats to a healthy democracy. 

Gerrymandering is when politicians redraw voting districts to give themselves an unfair advantage.

There are two main tactics:

• Packing: Cram your opponents into a few districts so their votes are concentrated and wasted.
• Cracking: Split them up across many districts so they never form a majority anywhere.

In Texas, both are happening right now.

When politicians get to draw their own districts, they’re not creating fair maps. They’re rigging the system to protect themselves, shut out opposing views, and make elections less competitive.

Gerrymandering lets politicians choose their voters instead of the other way around. It’s like having two competing sports teams, but the winning team makes up the rules as they go.

That’s not just bad for one side. It’s bad for anyone—Republican, Democrat, Independent, or otherwise—who believes leaders should earn their seats, not carve them out with a Sharpie. This isn’t about left vs. right. It’s about a system that’s drifting further from the people it’s supposed to serve.

What’s Going On In Texas Right Now?

Late in July 2025, Texas lawmakers proposed a new congressional map. These redrawn district lines would theoretically give Republicans five extra seats in next year’s midterm elections.

In the 2024 presidential election, Democrats earned 42.46% of the statewide vote. But under the newly proposed map, they’d only get 8 out of 38 congressional seats. That’s just 21% of representation—cutting their share in half. Millions of voters would be affected. 

That’s not just unfair. That’s silencing.

The proposal was so contentious that Democratic lawmakers fled the state to try to block it. In response, Governor Abbott threatened them with fines and arrests. The standoff made national headlines—but the long-term effects of this map could be even more dangerous.

Gerrymandering is Technically Legal, But…

Redrawing electoral boundaries, or redistricting, is a normal process. It occurs every decade around the census to ensure each district has roughly the same number of people and adequate legislative representation.

While in the process of redistricting, both parties have used gerrymandering tactics. In recent years, Democrats have done it in Illinois and Maryland to secure their power. 

Wisconsin did it in 2011. North Carolina did it in 2016 and again in 2019. In those cases, the redistricting was court-ordered to correct maps that had been unfairly drawn along racial or partisan lines.

Texas is redrawing the map outside the usual 10-year redistricting cycle tied to the census. Gov. Abbott says the mid-cycle redistricting is needed to address “constitutional concerns” flagged by the U.S. Department of Justice about the current 2021 maps. In a letter just two days before Abbott called the special session, DOJ officials argued that four Democratic-controlled districts may be unconstitutional due to racial gerrymandering.

In response, New York and California are considering mid-decade redistrictings of their own. Texas has sent us down a slippery slope that could see both parties engaging in a sort of gerrymandering arms race. Red states could become almost entirely red. Blue states could become almost entirely blue. And our country would become increasingly more divided.

Why Gerrymandering Hurts Everyone—Even The Party Drawing The Lines

At first glance, it might seem like a win for the party in power. But gerrymandering doesn’t just hurt the other side—it weakens democracy for everyone.

When districts are “safe,” politicians no longer have to appeal to the middle or persuade swing voters. Their only real competition comes from primary challengers in their own party. That means:

• Bipartisanship becomes a liability. There would be no benefit to cooperating with the “other side,” since the other side has no voting power. Attempts at reaching across the aisle could only make a candidate vulnerable to more extreme challengers within their party. Thus…
• More extreme candidates rise to the top, which is bad for a democracy because they tend to represent only the loudest, most hardline voices in their party—not the broader mix of voters they’re supposed to serve.
• Voters check out. When the voices of the minority feel like their voices don’t matter, they disengage from politics.

And the truth is, most Texans aren’t hard left or hard right. They’re practical people who want representation that reflects reality. But gerrymandered maps make it harder and harder for those voices to be heard.

How We Fix It Before It Gets Worse

Texans believe in earning your spot—not stacking the deck.

During recent public hearings, over 98% of Texans who spoke opposed the proposed maps. These voices came from all corners of the state—rural and urban, conservative and progressive, Black, white, and Latino. On a national level, nearly 9 in 10 voters oppose gerrymandering. 

One solution is to use independent redistricting commissions—nonpartisan groups that draw fair maps instead of letting politicians do it themselves. 

Nine states utilize independent redistricting commissions, including Michigan, Colorado, Washington, and Arizona.

The federal government has proposed solutions like the Freedom to Vote Act and the For the People Act, but state-level action is just as important. Citizens can push for ballot initiatives (citizen-drawn legislation) to create independent redistricting commissions, like voters did in Michigan, Colorado, and Arizona. They can testify at public hearings and contact their state legislators. 

In states without ballot initiative processes—like Texas—citizens can still build grassroots coalitions, demand transparency, and organize sustained public campaigns that make gerrymandering politically toxic. Texans can also support local advocacy groups, like Texans Against Gerrymandering, Fair Maps Texas, and the League of Women Voters of Texas. 

Lawmakers work for the people, not themselves. And it’s our job to remind them that the power to draw maps belongs to voters, not politicians protecting their own seats.

This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s not Republican vs. Democrat. It’s the people vs. a rigged system.

The Bottom Line

If we want a democracy that reflects the will of the people—not just the people in power—we have to fix how the map gets drawn. Texas has a choice: let the system keep getting more extreme and less accountable, or build a process that puts voters first.

Let’s end the political games. Let’s redraw the lines the right way.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)