Editor’s Note: As this story is being published, the Texas legislature is moving forward to approve their undemocratic redistricting proposal to insure Republican wins in Congress.
AUSTIN, TX — President Trump recently told Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, he wants the Texas legislature to further gerrymander the already heavily-gerrymandered districts to give the Republicans an additional 5 votes in the House. Some political analysts speculate that Trump is concerned about the outcome of the 2026 elections if they don’t get more reliable votes.
This undemocratic move has angered many who see it as a means to dilute diverse representation and voting power, especially of communities of color. Democratic-controlled state legislatures are looking at retaliating by doing their own re-districting. California plans to add 5 more Democrat-voting districts to offset the 5 new Republican ones that Texas will have. Other Red and Blue states are looking at their own redistricting prospects.
Many throughout the country see Trump’s move as a blatant power grab. Drucilla Tigner, executive director of the pro-democracy coalition Texas For All, told Reuters pro-democracy and labor groups held over 300 events attended by tens of thousands of people in 44 states and Washington, D.C. this past Saturday to protest Trump’s redistricting plan.
The Texas capitol at Austin saw a crowd of 5,000 gathered to protest Trump’s plan and other issues, and to hear from a variety of speakers who spoke about the many issues threatening our democracy that are at stake with or without redistricting.
I mingled with the crowd and took pictures and asked a few people to describe the issues that brought them out to protest.
I spoke to a woman who said: “It’s really important for not only Texans but for everyone in our country to know what Trump is trying to do right now. He’s trying to change the rules in the middle of the game so that he stays in power as long as possible. And what that means is that people are going to be hurting when they try to buy groceries at the grocery store. More people are going to lose their health care. It’s going to be harder and harder for people of color in this country the longer he is able to have pretty much unlimited power go unchecked. So, it’s incredible the number of people who are out here today and to know that this is such an important thing to speak out against, not only here in Austin but across the nation. There are nearly 400 events like this in 44 states and it is really incredible to be part of this, to send the message that Trump can’t try to take over our country.”
I spoke to a Latina who said, “For me specifically, I grew up on the boarder. I grew up in El Paso, Texas. Issues of the border are very important to me. One big issue is equal rights and protections for immigrants who are coming into the country, whether they’ve been here for 20 years, however they got here it doesn’t matter as long as they’re protected and treated fairly.”
I spoke to a man who had been an emergency room doctor for 20+years. He said, “There are so many issues it’s hard to list them all. We can start with multiple, multiple violations of the constitution. When I was an army officer I swore to serve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States. It’s substantially the same oath that Donald Trump took. He’s broken it so many times in so many different ways it’s clear he does not even consider that to be a guideline to go by. My personal opinion is that he should be tried by a military tribunal under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He is the Commander In Chief of the United States military. Therefore, he should fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, just like I did when I was in the military. I think he belongs in jail at Fort Leavenworth, the military prison. That’s probably the first and foremost. I could get into healthcare and civil rights and voters’ rights and taxation without representation and essentially killing Medicare and Medicaid. I was a practicing physician for 32 years. I feel that what he is doing just in his assignment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the chief of Health and Human Services will impact my children, my grandchildren certainly for decades and probably for generations to come in a very negative way.”
For more, see Texas Organizing Project press release of “White Supremacy at Work — Not a Flaw, but the System Working as Designed.”
Karel Riley works with the People’s Tribune, and its bilingual sister publication, Tribuno del Pueblo, as a writer and contributor on human rights and women’s issues. “I’ve been a feminist since early adulthood. As a clerical worker, I joined a union drive with AFSCME seeking comparable wages to men for female-dominated jobs, and we were partially successful. In the mid-80’s our union participated in the historic Hormel strike in Minnesota. Later, I joined others in support of a local welfare rights organization,” she says.
