White House, Texas Republicans weigh redistricting to protect GOP House majority
President Donald Trump's political operation has approached Texas Republicans about redrawing the Texas congressional map ahead of next year's midterms, in a bid to protect Republicans' fragile House majority, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told ABC News.
Texas Republican lawmakers, who met on the topic at the U.S. Capitol Monday night, described the conversations on the topic as preliminary, and most declined to discuss the initial conversations, which were first reported by The New York Times.
"I'm not going to comment on it," said Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas.
"We're still kind of cogitating," said Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas.
Currently, Republicans hold a 25-12 majority of the state's seats. One Houston-area Democratic seat is vacant, after the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas.
If Republicans in Austin decided to move forward with redistricting, it's not clear how they would reconfigure the map. One Republican source familiar with the discussions said that as many as five seats currently held by Democrats could be targeted.
But the source pointed out that any effort to draw Republican voters into Democratic seats could backfire -- leaving more seats vulnerable to legal challenges, or for Democratic pickups in a wave election.
"There's an old Southern saying: Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered," the source said to ABC News about the potential risks of redrawing the map.
A second Republican source familiar with the discussions told ABC News that Texas GOP figures have discussed the potential for redistricting with the White House.
Republicans currently have a 220-212 majority in the U.S. House, with three vacancies. They began the session with a narrow five-seat majority and could face a potential redrawing of the Wisconsin congressional map depending on the outcome of several lawsuits filed with the state supreme court.
Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, said the conversations show that Republicans are "definitely" worried about losing seats in November, given that the current map, approved in 2021, was drawn by Republicans for the coming decade.
There is one active federal lawsuit over the current map, brought by advocates who have argued it discriminates against voters of color.
"I don't think there's any question about that. I mean, why else would you want to do that knowing how unsettled that could make the electorate feel?" Veasey said.
Asked about GOP worries about losing control of the House, Babin said, "We're always concerned about the midterms. Who wants to go into the minority? I don't."
Redistricting before the next census would be unusual, but not unprecedented in Texas.
In 2003, Republicans led by former Rep. Tom DeLay pushed through an early redrawing of the maps to wrestle control of the majority of the state's seats from Democrats, sparking a political fight that made its way to the Supreme Court.
The White House and Gov. Greg Abbott's office did not respond to requests for comment.
"I can't control it, so I don't care," said Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, who suggested that his district could be one of those redrawn.
"If we were to really go through with it, districts like mine would obviously be the ones that are targeted because I live in the suburbs. I'm the one you have to take from the rural areas and put in the suburbs, so I'd be basically going back to my old district I guess."
Republicans' conversations come as some Democrats have, once again, set their sights on making gains in Texas.
The Texas Democratic Party has launched a new organizing effort with the Texas Majority PAC, an outside group backed by liberal megadonor George Soros, the PAC announced this week.
Texas Republicans are expected to huddle on the topic with White House representatives this coming Thursday, lawmakers told ABC News.
ABC News' Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
