#Texas, March 3: A gerrymandered scramble

It is a rare thing for the Lone Star State to have marquee races at the top of both the Democratic and Republican ballots,
which is why the contests for the two parties’ U.S. Senate nominations are getting so much national attention.


But the GOP-led legislature’s audacious mid-decade redistricting scheme to win five additional congressional seats has also set off a scramble making downballot primary races as crowded and confusing as the Dallas freeway system.

⭐️There are a dozen open-seat House contests,
six of which have attracted 10 or more candidates.

Some might advance to the May 26 runoff with the slimmest of pluralities.

Democrats have not been daunted by the many newly drawn districts that favor the GOP.

When Rep. Greg #Casar’s reliably blue 35th District near San Antonio was gutted to favor a Republican,
he bolted to run in the nearby 37th.

In the district he left behind, however, four other Democrats have stepped up,
hoping to be the one who challenges whoever among the 11 Republicans running manages to make it to the November ballot.

“I’m surprised that only four Democrats are in this race, because I was preaching that this is a winnable seat for Democrats,”
said Marine Corps veteran John #Lira,
a Democrat running in the 35th
who argues that the larger political shifts this year could be enough to overcome the 10-point margin by which Trump won the new district in 2024.

If so, it might turn out that 2026’s great gerrymandering gambit will have backfired.