EL PASO ― A lawyer for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Wednesday said Adam Kincaid — the architect of a Texas redistricting plan designed to net Republicans five seats in Congress — knew the map he produced “discriminates” against minority voters.
“You were aware of the discrimination,” said lawyer Gary Bledsoe, who is representing Crockett and U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, at a hearing on whether the maps should be allowed for the 2026 midterm elections.
Kincaid, the executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, stood his ground.
“I would not describe it as discrimination,” he shot back.
“I drew the map using political data from start to finish,” he testified on cross-examination, adding that he didn’t look at racial demographics when he was drawing the congressional map.
Bledsoe, however, is making the argument that Kincaid — who drew most of the state’s 2021 congressional lines — knew about the racial makeup of the districts in question before he dismantled them. He didn’t need to refer to racial data he already had a grasp of, Bledsoe suggested.
A three-judge panel is hearing testimony this week in El Paso to determine whether Texas’ congressional maps were redrawn this summer with partisan politics or race in mind.
If the panel grants a temporary injunction, Texas’ 2026 congressional election would be staged under the maps put in place in 2021, or interim maps drawn by the court.
It is not clear whether the judges will issue a ruling before filing for the elections closes on Dec. 8.
At issue is whether the map was drawn to “intentionally” racially gerrymander congressional districts, particularly in the Dallas, Houston and Central Texas areas.
During his testimony Kincaid described how he approached redrawing North Texas districts to favor Republicans. He took District 32, formerly a Democratic stronghold, and stretched it into the rural, Republican areas of East Texas. The map keeps Republican-leaning parts of northern Dallas County in the district.
Rep. Julie Johnson, a Democrat who represents District 32, had her Farmers Branch home placed in nearby District 24, where Irving Republican Beth Van Duyne holds the seat.
“I completely transformed Texas 32,” Kincaid said early in his testimony. “I knew there was a Republican district in North Dallas County that we could have drawn [in 2021] that we didn’t draw.”
Kincaid testified that he took District 30 and District 33 and packed them with Democrats.
“I took what became 30 and 33 and drew one mega-district. I put all the Democrats in 30 and 33.”
District 33, represented by Democrat Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, was removed entirely out of Dallas County. Democratic voters in the southeast part of Tarrant County were packed into District 30, which Crockett, D-Dallas, represents. Most are minority voters.
Under the new congressional boundaries drawn by Kincaid, Crockett’s home is in District 33. Crockett told The Dallas Morning News that she’s considering her options, including a campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
In Houston Kincaid dismantled District 9, represented by Green. Most of that district was moved into District 18, which is heavily Black.
Bledsoe, who is president of the Texas NAACP, asked Kincaid if he knew the overwhelming majority of people who testified at various legislative hearings were against the changes he made. The NAACP is a plaintiff in the case.
“I know there was a lot of testimony,” Kincaid replied.
Kincaid, the state’s star witness, had been on the witness stand for nearly 16 hours Wednesday as defense lawyers moved through their case.
Though he drew most of the state’s 2021 congressional boundaries, Kincaid’s role in this year’s mid-decade redistricting was murky, until this week.
Kincaid testified he is part of a nationwide effort to produce more Republican congressional districts. He said he was first approached about mid-decade redistricting in Texas in March by Dr. Robin Armstrong, a Republican committeeman from Texas and former vice president of the Texas GOP.
But plaintiffs’ lawyers argued a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice urging the state to dismantle what’s been described as coalition districts prompted the rare, mid-decade redistricting effort.
Gov. Greg Abbott used the Justice Department’s warning about coalition districts as a reason to add redistricting to a special legislative session. In his proclamation, Abbott said he added redistricting to the special session agenda “in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
Kincaid testified that White House chief of staff James Blair showed him the letter during a White House meeting. Kincaid said he was on the phone with Abbott as he skimmed the letter.
He said he told Justice Department officials the letter was “dumb” and “unnecessary.”
“They were looking to send the letter and wanted to get my thoughts,” Kincaid testified.
“I told everyone it was a bad idea,” he said. “It wasn’t needed for Texas to draw the map.”
Kincaid spoke to Abbott at least three times as the map was being developed, though the details of those conversations were not given in court because Abbott’s lawyer successfully argued that those conversations were privileged.
The hearing is expected to continue through Friday. State Sen. Adam Hinojosa, R-Corpus Christi, testified Wednesday. State Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton and chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, is also on the defense witness list.
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