3:35Texas 2025 Congressional map draft, congressional district 11 and 37Google Earth, Princeton Gerrymandering Project
As Texas Republicans attempt to push through an unusual mid-decade redistricting bill in the Legislature at the behest of President Donald Trump, residents of Austin, the state capital, may find themselves in a district that includes rural areas over 300 miles away.
The suggested map dissects Central Texas’ 37th Congressional District, currently held by Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett, which will be divided among four adjacent districts, three of which are currently under Republican control.
One segment of the Austin-area district has been designated to be included in the 11th District, represented by Republican Rep. August Pfluger, which extends into rural Ector County, approximately 20 miles from the New Mexico border.
Texas 2021 Congressional map in Austin area, congressional district 37Google Earth, Princeton Gerrymandering Project
Rural congressional districts, where residents are often more spread out, typically cover larger areas since districts are designed to maintain a similar population count, ensuring that one American’s vote does not carry less weight than another’s. Additionally, rural voters are more likely to have shared demographic characteristics than those in urban settings.
Texas 2025 Congressional map draft, congressional district 11 and 37Google Earth, Princeton Gerrymandering Project
This could result in residents of that region sharing a congressman with individuals who are more than 311 miles away, a distance significantly greater than what they currently experience with their most distant constituents.
"When examining many of these districts, whether in Texas or elsewhere in the country, there is often a lack of a shared community of interest," stated Sherri Greenberg, assistant dean for the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin, in an interview with ABC News. "You often do not see county or city boundaries being respected. Instead, you may observe narrow districts or those that resemble pie shapes, failing to keep communities or shared interests intact."
When asked about the implications of the new map for the 37th district, Greenberg remarked, "You are spreading across vast distances, encompassing different cities, counties, communities, and varying interests, topography, geography, and culture potentially."
Greenberg previously served in the Texas House as a Democrat during the 1990s.
Redistricting occurs as a routine action by state legislatures following the decennial census to address shifts in populations nationwide, and undertaking this task in the years between censuses is uncommon. However, the White House approached Texas Republicans in June regarding redrawing the district lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to safeguard their tenuous majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Last month, President Trump stated he was seeking "a very straightforward redrawing; we aim to gain five seats."
David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst for The Cook Political Report, informed ABC News that the proposed map might place Democrats on a "collision course," as they may have to contend for the remaining Democratic-leaning district in their region. A potential confrontation could arise in Austin between Doggett and Rep. Greg Casar.
Democrats have criticized the draft map as "rigged," a "power grab," and "racist," and Texas House legislators have left the state to deny Republicans the necessary quorum to approve it.
"They are attempting to suppress the votes of Black and brown Austinites with this map," Casar declared during a protest outside the Texas governor’s residence on Monday. "We will not allow that to happen, because if they succeed in suppressing the votes of Austinites under Trump’s plan, they will soon attempt to suppress the votes of all Americans."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
