In another entertaining incident out of Texas as it pushes forward redistricting, Reps. Al Green (D-TX) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) have gone berserk and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court, demanding that the court block implementation of the redistricting bill that would do away with their congressional seats.
As background, Texas decided to engage in a major districting plan after receiving a letter from the Department of Justice in which is argued that the state was full of districts created by “race-based gerrymandering,” and thus needed to be gotten rid of posthaste. The districts implicated were Democratic districts.
So, led by Gov. Greg Abbott in the push, Texas Republicans rammed through a redistricting bill that will get rid of those illegal districts, at a cost of five Democratic seats and some trimming of other areas, such as cutting Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s house out of the district she currently controls. Democrats tried delaying passage of the bill by fleeing the state so that a quorum could not be reached, but they eventually returned.
The suit was filed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. It challenges Plan C2333, the redistricting map approved by the Republican-led Texas legislature earlier in August, the redistricting map that was much cheered by conservatives because of how it gets rid of nearly half a dozen Democrat districts.
In the suit, the lawyers for Reps. Green and Crockett, listed as the plaintiff-intervenors in the case, contend that the redistricting map, passed ahead of the important 2026 elections, should be blocked from going into effect by the three-judge panel in the name of protecting voting rights in the districts at issue.
Particularly, the plaintiffs contend that in changing the district map mid-decade, particularly in substantially changing the 9th and 30th Congressional Districts, Texas Republicans have disrupted Congressional representation for voters. Thus they describe themselves as fighting the Republicans “on behalf of voters who were or are currently part of their districts.”
So, demanding the court take action, the suit request and injunction that blocks the map from going into effect. Further, the plaintiff-intervenors claim that they are able to show likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, a balance of equities in their favor, and consistency with the public interest, all of which are required for an injunction of the sort requested.
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Al Green, for his part, has indicated that he will not run for the newly redrawn 9th District. Gabby Birenbaum, a reporter for the Texas Tribune, announcing as much in a post on X, said, “NEW: Rep. Al Green says he will not be running in TX-09, which was drawn to favor Rs, and that he + the majority of his current constituents live in the redrawn TX-18. Says he’ll announce if he’s running in November; but if he runs for Congress, it’ll be in TX-18 in 2026.”
Birenbaum added, “Green also defended Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner, both of whom died in office in TX-18. Green said those who demean them are hurting Black history. ‘I’m going to be in a race just to defend those two people if for no other reason.’”
Watch Crockett freak out over the redistricting here: