In the second-planned hearing over recently announced plans to enact a proposed mid-decade congressional redistricting, Texas lawmakers and citizens alike from across the state gathered on Saturday at the University of Houston Student Center. 

Of the hundreds in attendance, the overwhelming majority of those who traveled to–and gave testimony at–the hearing were there to voice their opposition to the Texas GOP’s contentious move.

“It’s a really bad situation,” said Ruben Salazar, a 24 year-old board member for the East Aldine Management District and resident of Texas’s 29th Congressional District. “When asked to jump, Texas Republicans said, ‘how high?’”

For Salazar, the potential impacts that could come of this redistricting would have direct consequences for the community he serves, as the 29th District was one of four singled-out by name in a July 7 letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton sent from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The letter–broadly criticized by Democrats as a blatantly partisan move for the benefit of a politically floundering presidential administration afraid of losing their U.S House majority–claims that, in addition to the 29th District, the 9th, 18th, and 33rd Congressional Districts are, as minority-coalition districts, in violation of the most recent interpretation of the Voting Rights Act.

As U.S. congressional districts, the consequences of flipping up to four Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to Republican would mean cementing the GOP’s control of the House for the rest of President Trump’s second term in office.

“Our state is already heavily gerrymandered,” said Texas State Senator Molly Cook. “And, what is going to happen as we further gerrymander is that you’re not gonna have to knock on any black or brown doors,” Cook said of the GOP’s intention to target those select districts. “You will be able to win these races with only white votes.”

The matter of these latest redistricting efforts explicitly targeting 4 majority-minority districts also prompted a rebuke from State Representative Jolanda Jones, who also was clear in the message she received from the move. “The only way for them to give ’em five seats is literally to gerrymander based on race. That’s the only way to do it.”

Out of the 4 districts named by the DOJ, 3 belong to Houston, a city consistently ranked and recognized as one of the most diverse in the entire United States. Among those 3, Texas’s 18th Congressional District is currently without a representative on account of the passing of Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in March of this year.

Though Governor Abbott has set a special election to fill the seat for Nov. 4, the decision has been met with backlash from outspoken voices, including Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee.

Menefee, who, in response to a question from State Representative Christian Manuel after testifying to the House redistricting committee, highlighted Governor Abbott’s decision to set a special election date for a contested district seat vacated by Former Congressman Filemon Vela Jr. in March of 2022 for that June, citing the year’s approaching hurricane season and the district’s potential need of federal representation in order to receive FEMA aid.

“State leaders have targeted this district for far too long, and it’s time for you to do the right thing,” said Menefee during his initial testimony before the committee. “Do not strip these folks of their political power. Do not adopt a redistricting plan that does that.”

“The question is, ‘will they listen?’” said Representative Jones outside the UH Student Center.

Despite the question posed, she is already preparing herself for a much more drawn-out conflict against the state GOP. “Personally, I think the fix is in, and I don’t think anything we’re saying matters.”

In the event that these redistricting efforts pass through the committee in accordance with Texas Republican’s stated desires, Jones says that a quorum break by Texas Democrats–wherein enough representatives leave the state to put an indefinite pause on the legislative proceedings–is the party’s most likely avenue for recourse. “And then it’s just, you know, time to jump and go wherever it is we’re going. Because we’ve gotta resist.”