In Houston's Sunnyside neighbourhood, the fight is over where the lines fall. Mount Hebron Missionary Baptist Church had long been located in the ninth congressional district, its politically engaged Black voters helping to elect Democrat Al Green for two decades. After an appeal from US President Donald Trump, the Republican state legislature last year conducted rare mid-decade redistricting, moving the church and its Black community into the Black-majority 18th district.
Green was forced to run in a primary against 18th district incumbent Christian Menefee, another Black Democrat, and lost, leaving Houston with one fewer Black representative in Congress. The ninth district was redrawn to favour Republicans and is one of at least five seats the party hopes to pick up in the midterm vote.
Critics call the process "cracking and packing", consolidating heavily Democratic Black voters into fewer districts to weaken their representation. Pastor Max Miller, who has served at Mount Hebron for 18 years, said the changes were an attempt to manipulate and monopolise the vote. 97-year-old Alice Jefferson said she disliked the redistricting because Green was moved out, and Janice Ray called it "a bunch of BS".
An April ruling by the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court said that anyone challenging a map under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 must prove "racist intent". Critics say the bar is unreasonably high and effectively allows racial gerrymandering; critics of Section 2 say drawing maps to protect minority voting power is itself discriminatory.
Texas Republicans say the map reflects the state's shifting political makeup, not racial gerrymandering. State Representative Todd Hunter said the plan included political considerations, public testimony, recognition of population growth and recent changes in voter trends, and that the new districts trend Republican, giving the party an opportunity to win them without guaranteeing success.
Texas was not alone. This year Republican legislatures redrew maps in Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Ohio, while Democrats did so in California and a court-ordered map in Utah handed Democrats a favourable seat. A Democratic push in Virginia was invalidated. Republicans hoped to net at least 13 seats nationally, but polling suggests their gains may be much more muted. About 35 million voters will cast ballots in newly redistricted seats.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston professor, said redistricting can change political boundaries but cannot guarantee how voters behave. He also said these districts are a test of whether political dissatisfaction can overcome an aggressively partisan map.
The Texas map was drawn largely around Latino voting trends after that demographic swung heavily for Trump in 2024, but Trump's popularity has since tanked among Latino voters, fuelled in part by economic unrest and the administration's aggressive deportation campaign. According to Dayana Iza, Texas state director of Mi Familia Vota, the ninth district offers a path to a Democratic victory. Iza said the district kept a large Latino population, but the share of Latino voters there who vote is very low, and her organization is trying to mobilise turnout.
Democratic candidate Leticia Gutierrez said the race was no longer a left or right matter but an affordability crisis, and that door-to-door contact mattered. Christian Garcia, who has not voted since moving from Puerto Rico in 2014, said he had felt voting was "wasting my time"; Esmeralda Gil, a teacher, said she hoped for a Democratic surge and called for affordable healthcare and housing.