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El Paso may be part of Republican congressional redistricting plan, report says [1]

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Date: 2025-07-15

President Donald Trump’s request that Texas Republicans seek to create five new congressional seats for the GOP in an upcoming special legislation could involve redrawing boundaries in El Paso, a website focused on Congress says.

Diluting the traditional Democratic stronghold of Texas’ 16th Congressional District, currently represented by Veronica Escobar, is one of the options being considered by Republicans ahead of the special session set to begin July 21, according to Punchbowl News.

Tony Gonzales, candidate for District 23 U.S. representative.

Details of a specific redistricting plan in Far West Texas hasn’t been made public, but almost certainly would involve placing much more of El Paso into the 23rd Congressional District, which stretches across a wide swath from El Paso to western San Antonio and is currently represented by Republican Tony Gonzales. It also would have to involve placing more rural voters outside El Paso into Escobar’s district, which is currently entirely within the boundaries of El Paso.

“Texas Republicans are about to engage in mid-year redistricting at the behest of Donald Trump. Make no mistake about it, Donald Trump knows his ‘big beautiful bill,’ which cuts health care and nutrition programs in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy, has made Republicans all over the country vulnerable to the ire of their voters,” Escobar said in a statement to El Paso Matters.

“So to compensate, Trump wants to stack the deck and further gerrymander Texas House seats, adding five more seats for Republicans. And unfortunately, Texas Republicans are so compliant that they are willing to do anything to please Trump. But this is bigger than Texas elections and is a sign of everything Trump will do in order to stay in power and rig the system in his favor. It is not hyperbole to say that our democracy in America is on the line right now, and Texas is central to protecting it.”

Gonzales couldn’t immediately be reached for comment by El Paso Matters.

Texas has 38 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans currently hold 25 seats and Democrats 12, with one Houston area seat vacant since the March death of Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner.

State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, serves as speaker pro tempore of the Texas House of Representatives, making him the highest-ranking Democrat in the chamber. He said he hasn’t seen any redistrict maps specifically involving El Paso, and thinks redistricting between censuses is a bad idea.

Joe Moody

“When we (the El Paso legislative delegation) get back to special session, I think we’re going to be hyper vigilant to make sure that El Paso is well represented and that the people that we represent, they have true and meaningful representation in Washington, D.C.,” he told El Paso Matters.

El Paso County has too many people to fit into a single congressional district, so it has been part of two congressional districts since the 1990s. But the bulk of El Paso’s population has been in the 16th Congressional District since then, and that should continue, Moody said.

“I think it makes sense because of our geographic isolation, the unique issues that we face given the military installation that is inextricably intertwined with our community, these are all reasons why, at least as far back as I can remember, that’s the way it’s been. I don’t see any reason to change that now,” he said.

Democrats are aiming to retake control of the U.S. House in 2026, and the White House and Texas GOP leaders have been discussing plans to redraw state congressional lines in a way that could boost Republicans.

Including El Paso in any Republican redistricting plan could create numerous challenges, including complying with current court guidelines for drawing political lines, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

“Because of population locations and geographic boundaries, it would be pretty hard to cut up Congressional District 16. The more ways that mapmakers carve up the state, the more legal challenges they’ll face. CD 16 is a good example of a district that, if changed, could end up as an exhibit of problematic line drawing,” Rottinghaus told El Paso Matters.

“El Paso’s geographic isolation makes it a challenge to be part of a ranging district that includes large stretches of rural areas and still keeps it mostly compact. It’s a logistical and legal problem for mapmakers,” he said.

Texas’s current congressional boundaries were drawn by the Legislature in 2021, following the 2020 census, as has been customary. Redrawing district lines between censuses has been historically rare, but courts have ruled it can be done.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to redraw House district lines in his heavily Democratic state if Republicans do so in Texas.

Republicans had been discussing a redistricting plan that would have added as many as four new Republican seats in Texas, but President Trump told reporters Tuesday that he wanted more.

“There could be some other states we’re going to get another three, or four or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one,” he said. “Just a simple redrawing we pick up five seats.”

The Republican redistricting plan for Texas has generally involved redrawing lines in South Texas, the Dallas area and Houston, according to media reports.

But adding a fifth target has Republicans also considering El Paso and the Austin area as possibilities for redistricting, according to Punchbowl.

Redrawing lines to place more Republican voters in districts currently held by Democrats carries risks for the GOP, because it would mean diluting Republican votes in districts they already control.

Gonzales’ 23rd Congressional District was long one of the few competitive districts in Texas, but was redrawn in 2021 to make it safer for the Republican incumbent.

Moving more voters from a traditional Democratic stronghold like El Paso into Gonzales’ district could make his 2026 reelection bid more difficult. The same would hold true for other Republicans in Texas who currently represent safe seats.

Gonzales was reelected in 2024 with more than 62% of the vote against Santos Limon, a little-known Democrat who raised less than $10,000. Gonzales won 52% of the vote in the small area of El Paso County that’s in his district, the first time a Republican 23rd Congressional District candidate carried the El Paso vote.

Escobar defeated Republican Irene Armendariz-Jackson for the third consecutive time in 2024, winning 59.5% of the vote. It was the first time Escobar won less than 60% of the vote in her four general election races.

Rottinghaus, the University of Houston political scientist, said trying to carve out five new GOP congressional districts might be too risky for Republicans because it could cost them seats they already hold.

“Netting five GOP seats would be a tall order even with sophisticated mapping. Even if computers will let mapmakers craft districts carefully, there are still important legal considerations in slicing and dicing current districts,” he said.

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[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2025/07/15/congressional-redistricting-plan-may-target-veronica-escobar-el-paso-texas-gop/

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