SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
State lawmakers in Texas begin a special session today.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Republicans who dominate the Texas legislature want to redraw voting districts for Congress. Their explicit partisan purpose is to skew the results so that Republicans win more seats.
PFEIFFER: The state Republican Party said redistricting is, quote, "an essential step to preserving GOP control" of "Congress." President Trump favors the idea.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats. But we have a couple of other states where we'll pick up seats also.
INSKEEP: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang is with us now. Hansi, good morning.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So, normally, a state redistricts every 10 years with the census. Why is Texas doing it five years early?
WANG: Well, as you heard, in their own words, this is pure, hard politics. You know, Texas first passed a congressional map, like most states, after the 2020 census results came out, and that map was challenged in court by voting rights advocates. And while those lawsuits are still playing out, the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, announced this special session.
INSKEEP: And what was his reasoning for doing this?
WANG: Abbott pointed to a letter he received this month from the Justice Department under the Trump administration, and that letter claims the map that Republican lawmakers passed back in 2021 is unconstitutional. You know, a lot of legal experts are skeptical of the letter's reasoning, though, because President Trump has been vocal, as you heard, about wanting a new map that he thinks can get Republicans five more seats in Texas.
INSKEEP: How likely is it that they'll get what they want?
WANG: Well, Republicans, like you said, control both the legislature and the governor's office in Texas. So, in theory, they can pass a map that they want, but there is a risk of overreaching here because mapmakers in this special session may be making some out-of-date assumptions about where voters are and how they vote. Any new map would be based on census data from five years ago. That's a long time for a state that's changing demographically as much as Texas is.
INSKEEP: OK. We mentioned other states. What other states might this happen in?
WANG: Well, Ohio has to draw a new map because of a state law. There are a handful of states in the South, plus Utah and Wisconsin, with maps that are still in the middle of lawsuits. And depending on what courts decide and their timing, those states may not have to draw new maps and use existing ones, but what is true for all of these states is that the House Representatives has been narrowly divided for years. So any changes with the voting districts could make a big difference in whether Republicans keep control of the House or lose it to the Democrats.
INSKEEP: I feel that I have heard of states sometimes doing a mid-decade redistricting before. How unusual is this?
WANG: I talked to Michael Kang, a redistricting expert at Northwestern University's law school. Some states have done mid-decade redistricting. It's usually in the context of lawsuits that drag on for years. But what Kang says is unusual and notable this time round is that we are in an increasingly polarized political climate. And that means in states where one political party controls map drawing, like in Texas, you're going to see strategies to squeeze out every possible advantage. And Kang thinks voting maps should be drawn once at the beginning of a decade after census and then, unless they violate any laws, be left alone.
MICHAEL KANG: When you can adjust the districts to make your side safer and the other side more vulnerable multiple times over a decade, it becomes hard to hold these guys accountable.
WANG: You know, I should also note that the Supreme Court has struck down some key protections against racial discrimination and redistricting under the Voting Rights Act, and that has unleashed some state lawmakers to try draw maps in ways that courts may not have allowed in the past.
INSKEEP: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang, thanks so much.
WANG: You're welcome, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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