9 November 27 - December 3, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents equivocal, strong and convincing.” “I’m really happy to see the court render such a strong opinion,” Johnson told the Ob- server. “Those of us in the Democratic delega- tion, we’ve been remarkably hopeful that the court was going to come to this conclusion. … I think that’s why you see only Al Green [has] actually filed ahead of time in a different dis- trict. The rest of us were waiting on the court to rule because we were confident that these maps were going to get overturned.” Now that a federal court has maintained that Johnson’s district will remain in North Texas, she said she plans to file for reelec- tion in search of a second term in Con- gress. Of course, the Supreme Court could rechange that calculation. In an interview with the Texas Tribune, Veasey offered a similar sentiment to John- son, stating that he’d urged his colleagues to “stay calm” because the situation “felt exactly like 2011” when a panel of judges overturned the Texas Legislature’s maps, ultimately lead- ing to the drawing of Veasey’s district. Crockett, on the other hand, declined to say whether she will run for reelection. Al- though the redrawn map actually strength- ened the Democratic support in her district, CD-30, there has been speculation that she will run for Senate instead. Crockett told the Tribune that she “still has some evaluations to make” before filing for either seat. ‘Chaos and Uncertainty’ As Democrats celebrated the ruling, uncer- tainty still lingered. Luke Warford, founder of the Agave Democratic Infrastructure Fund political action committee, lamented that while the redistricting back-and-forth has been confusing for potential candidates, it’s likely been even more confusing for the vot- ers who have found themselves yanked be- tween congressional districts. “Just imagine how you’d feel if you worked for Julie’s [campaign], and you work real hard and you block walked and phone banked and then, boop, now you’re in Keith Self’s [district],” Darrel Evans, a communi- cations chair with the Collin County Demo- cratic Party, told the Observer in July. “You just feel so disenfranchised.” With less than a month left for candi- dates to file for the November 2026 election, Warford said some politicians have found themselves in the position of running a race “based on the assumption that these maps were going to hold.” Now, those districts no longer exist; as long as the federal court’s ruling isn’t overturned, that is. One politician who finds himself in limbo is state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from Harris County, who filed to run for the re- drawn CD-9 seat. On X, Cain announced that his campaign would move “full speed ahead” with the expectation that the maps would be reinstated. Johnson said there is “no doubt” that the court could intervene, but that she believes past precedent suggests that the trial court’s opinion would be allowed to stand through the upcoming election cycle. Warford, though, isn’t ruling anything out. “[This is] chaos and uncertainty that has been created on the Republican side,” said Warford. “It’s not clear how this all shakes out. It’s possible that the Supreme Court overturns the decision made yesterday, it’s possible that the primary gets moved. It’s just an incredible amount of uncertainty.” There is a chance this whole thing back- fires even further on the Republican coalition in Congress. After Texas approved its re- drawn maps, California passed its own prop- osition to redraw congressional lines. The ballot measure could see Democrats gain up to five seats in that state, and Warford sug- gested that because the proposition was ap- proved by voters instead of being pushed through the California Legislature, it may be allowed to stand. If nothing else, Warford says the redis- tricting confusion has shortened what is al- ready a quick election period. Campaigns for districts in flux haven’t been able to fundraise or hire the campaign staff. “You can’t really fundraise if you’re calling someone and saying, ‘Hey, I don’t really know what district I’m running in, but will you sup- port me for either this, or that, or maybe this other thing?’” Warford said. “All these things don’t work, and I think it’s going to result in shortening the election period.” Emma Ruby Congressman Marc Veasey called President Donald Trump “a power hungry, corrupt creature.”
