HOUSTON, Texas – Gospel music from Mount Hebron Missionary Baptist Church fills the streets of Sunnyside, a majority black neighborhood in south Houston.
It’s a common sight on Sundays. Hands in the air, starched shirt and bright white bow tie, perfect pastel hat adorned with fabric flowers. But with the U.S. midterm elections just two days away, the service had special importance on the front lines of America’s redistricting battle.
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Mount Hebron has long been part of the 9th Congressional District, where politically engaged black voters have helped elect Democrat Al Green, a colorful presence in Congress known for his cane-waving opposition to President Donald Trump, for two decades.
But in response to Trump’s appeal, the Republican state Legislature last year carried out an unusual redistricting exercise mid-decade, redistricting the church and its black community into the majority-black 18th District.
Critics have dubbed the process “cracking and packing,” which reduces the representation of minority groups in Congress, especially the heavily Democratic black community, by consolidating minority voting power into fewer districts.
“When we talk about voting and civil rights, it’s kind of the same thing,” says Pastor Max Miller, who has served the church for 18 years.
“They’re trying to manipulate the vote and monopolize it and minimize the people in that district,” Miller said. “I see so many things going backwards that it seems like they’re taking scripts from old songs and trying to turn back time.”
As a result of redistricting, Greene was forced to face 18th District incumbent Christian Menefe, a fellow Black Democrat, in the primary. He lost, and Houston lost one of its black members in Congress.
Meanwhile, the 9th Congressional District has been redrawn in favor of Republicans, making it one of at least five seats in the U.S. Congress that Republicans will seek to win in the midterm vote.
This conspiracy resonated with the worshipers of Mount Hebron.
“I don’t like redistricting at all because they got Al Green out,” said Alice Jefferson, 97, who has followed the congressman throughout his political career. “He always gave people good advice.”
Janice Ray, a 61-year-old home health aide and entrepreneur, said the state Legislature is “trying to force people out of their neighborhoods.”
“For me, it was all just frustration,” she said. “There was no reason for that.”
“But we will stand firm no matter what they do,” Ray added. “Because just as it was changed, it can always be undone.”
“My voice became quieter.”
Experts say the redistricting process has undergone a generational shift this election cycle, weakening long-standing guardrails protecting minority voting power.
“In political science, we have what we call descriptive representation,” Michael Adams, a professor at Texas Southern University in Houston, told Al Jazeera. “In terms of descriptive representation, minorities and others feel that their vote can be defined as one voice, for example, if they can choose someone who reflects their values and who may be similar to them.”
“And certainly by not having more Black members representing Houston, a significant portion of Black voters may feel that their voice is being diminished,” he says.
Texas was just the beginning.
This year, Republican and Democratic state legislatures across the country also got in on the fray. Republicans successfully redistricted districts in Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Ohio. In California, Democrats did so, while in Utah, court-ordered maps gave Democrats favorable seats. The Democratic Party’s push in Virginia subsequently died.
Redrawing the map in the middle of the decade without waiting for the latest demographic numbers from the U.S. Census was already an anomaly. However, many of the maps drawn this year would have been considered illegal in previous cycles.
Section 2 of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, originally passed to combat overtly racist voting practices in the United States, had long prohibited redrawing Congressional maps to weaken the voting rights of minority voters.
In April, the conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court ruled that anyone challenging such maps must prove “racist intent.” Critics say the ruling effectively condones racial gerrymandering and proves an unreasonably high bar for such intent.
But critics of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act argue that drawing maps to protect minority voting rights is itself discriminatory.
Texas defenders, on the other hand, argued that the redistricting was based on a change in the state’s political makeup and not racial gerrymandering.
“This plan includes political considerations, public testimony, recognition of population growth, and recent changes in voter trends,” Republican state Rep. Todd Hunter said shortly after the new maps were passed last year.
“Each of these newly drawn districts now trends Republican in political performance. While there is no guarantee of electoral success, Republicans will have an opportunity to potentially win in these districts,” he said.
political test
There is no guarantee that a party’s redistricting plan will actually work.
Following the tit-for-tat map redraw, Republicans had hoped to win at least 13 seats nationwide. Polls suggest their gains could slow further.
All told, about 35 million U.S. voters will vote for newly redistricted seats in this election.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor at the University of Houston, told Al Jazeera: “Redistricting can change political boundaries, but it can’t guarantee how voters will behave.”
In Texas, the Republican map was drawn primarily based on recent trends in Latino voting. Once considered a reliably Democratic voting district, the state’s demographics tilted heavily toward Trump in 2024.
In addition to Houston’s 9th Congressional District, Republicans had hoped to elect four other districts, most based in South Texas, with an eye on changing Latino sentiment.
But the political tide has changed again. Trump’s popularity among Latino voters has waned, due in part to concerns about the state of the economy and his administration’s aggressive deportation campaign.
It remains to be seen how that will translate to the ballot box as Texas voters choose candidates for the Senate, governor, Congress, and state and local offices.
“These races are a test of whether political grievances can overcome highly partisan maps,” Rottinghaus said.
“We’re trying to mobilize.”
With new boundaries come new opportunities.
Dayana Iza, Texas state director for Mi Familia Vota, a Latino voting organization that focuses resources on congressional races, said the 9th District is currently considered Republican-friendly, but its large population and low-intensity Latino voters create a path for Democratic victory.
“The Legislature has kept the majority of Latino voters in the district, but the reality is that the percentage of Latino voters in the district is very low,” Isa told Al Jazeera. “So that became a district that we were trying to mobilize in terms of turnout.”
On Saturday, ahead of the Nov. 3 vote, Democratic candidate Leticia Gutierrez and state Sen. Molly Cook zigzagged through a neighborhood of single-family homes in east Houston.
Gutierrez assessed that his path to victory hinged on face time and the chance to connect with disillusioned voters.
“The average annual income in the community here is $63,000. My income is a little more than that, but it’s difficult,” Gutierrez told Al Jazeera. “At this point, it’s no longer left or right. This is an affordability crisis.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard some voters here say this is the first time someone has actually come to my house,” she added. “This means a lot, so we want to continue doing that.”
Among the residents was Christian Garcia, 53, who works at a local chemical factory. He hasn’t voted since moving to Texas from Puerto Rico in 2014. He said he is focused on his family, saving enough for retirement and eventually leaving some money for his adult children.
Garcia said she used to feel that voting was a “waste of time.”
“You know, there’s a lot of corruption and things like that,” Garcia said. “I can’t trust anyone anymore.”
A block away, Esmeralda Gil, a 39-year-old teacher, said she was hopeful for Democratic gains.
Gill wondered why taxes, especially on housing, seemed so high when so many people were struggling to access health care.
“We need affordable health care and affordable housing,” she said.
