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Democrats are condemning the Trump administration's push to redraw Texas' congressional maps in an apparent attempt to maintain Republican majority in the legislature.
A special legislative session called by Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to be held next week, addressing the redistricting of Texas' congressional map after the Trump administration expressed "serious concerns regarding the legality" of four of the state's districts.
In a letter to Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, urged the state to "rectify race-based considerations" in what he deemed as "unconstitutional coalition districts."
Trump also spoke out about the situation on Tuesday (July 15), saying he was requesting that the Texas legislature do a "simple" redrawing of the map, which would give congressional Republicans, who hold a tight majority in the House, an additional five seats.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Rep. Jasmine Crockett noted that the four districts being targeted by the Trump administration are all represented by Black and brown lawmakers, per theGrio.
“We only have four seats that are represented by Black folk, where the vast majority of the people [who] get to decide who they have represent them are Black. They decided to attack three of the four seats that we have in the state,” Crockett said.
“They [also] decided to go after a Latina [Rep. Sylvia Garcia]. They are specifically deciding to splinter the communities of common interest, as well as just blatantly say we are going to dilute minority voices," she added.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits states from drawing maps that don't allow Black voters to elect candidates of their choice. However, the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required states to receive federal approval to pass voting rights legislation. The Supreme Court's move has sparked restrictive voting laws in several states and gerrymandering maps that give Republicans significant advantages.
“The courts, ever since we’ve had a Voting Rights Act, have always found this state to be intentionally discriminatory,” Crockett said Tuesday.
“I need people of color to understand that the scheme of the Republicans has consistently been to make sure that they mute our voices so that they can go ahead and have an oversized say," she added.
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