U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) testified Friday in Austin that she may lose her seat in Congress if the Texas Legislature finalizes a new congressional map that significantly alters several Democratic-leaning districts.
Her remarks came during a legislative hearing in which Texas lawmakers voted along party lines to advance the proposed redistricting plan out of committee.
Crockett, who represents a heavily Democratic district in the Houston area, expressed concerns that the proposed map redraws her out of the district she currently serves.
“I do not currently reside in my district based upon the plan that has been drawn,” Crockett told the committee.
“Which is another red flag, in addition to courts consistently looking at how many people have been moved.”
She said the new map contains multiple “red flags” and warned that the plan could jeopardize her chances for re-election.
The map, if approved, would redraw five Democrat-held seats and create three new Republican-leaning districts, while also shifting two additional districts into Republican-favored territory.
Areas affected include major metropolitan regions like Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio.
“They are supposed to take that into consideration, and these are some of the things that the court will look at when they’re trying to determine whether or not there were problems with creating the maps,” Crockett said during her testimony.
“It’s really awful.”
The redistricting plan comes amid a broader legal and political debate over race-based redistricting.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear arguments in a new case that could result in changes to how states are permitted to draw race-conscious congressional districts.
The Court has previously signaled it may reexamine the constitutionality of such practices under the Voting Rights Act.
Crockett has argued that the new map dilutes the influence of minority voters and has left her district more vulnerable to primary challenges.
“It is a hot mess, and it is so sad that these people have no integrity and could care less about doing what’s right,” she said.
Before the Texas legislature holds a full vote on the proposal, another public hearing is scheduled in Austin to allow residents to comment on the proposed redistricting.
Crockett urged her supporters to participate.
“They want to exhaust us, and I want us to dig deep and show them even more energy than they could have ever imagined coming from us, us being we, the people,” she said.
The redistricting effort follows a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), issued during President Trump’s current administration, raising legal objections to four Texas congressional districts.
The DOJ’s civil rights division identified Congressional Districts TX-09, TX-18, TX-29, and TX-33 as unconstitutional “coalition districts” and called on state leaders to eliminate race-based considerations in future map designs.
“As stated below, Congressional Districts TX-09, TX-18, TX-29 and TX-33 currently constitute unconstitutional ‘coalition districts’ and we urge the State of Texas to rectify these race-based considerations from these specific districts,” the DOJ wrote in its letter to Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The letter cited the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Allen v. Milligan, which ruled that Alabama had likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by failing to give minority voters equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in his concurring opinion, noted that even if Congress once had the authority to allow race-based redistricting under Section 2, “the authority to conduct race-based redistricting cannot extend indefinitely into the future.”
Texas lawmakers are expected to consider the full map proposal as early as Tuesday.
If passed, the redrawn districts could reshape the state’s political landscape and prompt additional legal challenges.
