NAACP Sues Texas Over Redrawn Map Alleged to Dilute Minority Vote

The NAACP and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday challenging Texas’s newly redrawn congressional map, arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting strength of Black and other minority residents. The suit, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso, names Governor Greg Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson as defendants and seeks to block the map’s use in upcoming elections. Republican lawmakers passed the map last week after a mid-decade redistricting push backed by President Donald Trump. Supporters say the design is intended to solidify GOP control and could add five Republican seats to Texas’s 38-member U.S. House delegation ahead of the 2026 midterms. Civil-rights advocates counter that the plan is racially gerrymandered: although only about 40 percent of Texans are white, white voters would control more than 73 percent of congressional districts under the new lines. The Texas case emerges as other states weigh similar partisan redistricting strategies, with parallel litigation already underway in California and Louisiana. The plaintiffs in Texas contend the court should bar implementation of the map and require boundaries that give minority voters a fair chance to elect candidates of their choice.