The gospel music from Mount Hebron Missionary Baptist Church spills into the streets of Sunnyside, a predominantly Black neighbourhood in southern Houston.
asserted
music → spill → Houston
It is a familiar scene on any given Sunday: hands in the air, immaculate bow ties on starched shirts, fabric flowers adorning perfectly pastel hats.
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It → give → hats
But with the US midterm elections just two days away, the service held a special significance on the front line of a US redistricting battle.
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service → hold → battle
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Mt Hebron had long been located in the ninth congressional district, its politically engaged Black voters for two decades helping to elect Democrat Al Green, a flamboyant presence in Congress known for his cane-waving opposition to US President Donald Trump.
But following an appeal from Trump, the Republican state legislature last year conducted rare mid-decade redistricting, redrawing the church and its Black community into the Black-majority 18th district.
asserted
legislature → know → district
Critics call the process “cracking and packing”, diminishing the representation in Congress of minority groups, particularly heavily Democratic Black communities, by consolidating their voting power into fewer districts.
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Critics → call → districts
“It’s kind of one and the same when we talk about the voting and the civil rights,” said Pastor Max Miller, who has served at the church for 18 years.
asserted
who → ’ → years
“They are trying to manipulate and monopolise the vote and minimise the people who are in those districts,” said Miller.
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Miller → try → districts
“We see so much rolling backwards that it looks like they’re trying to take a script from an old song and turn back the hands of time.
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they → see → time
As a result of the redistricting, Green was forced to run in a primary against 18th district incumbent Christian Menefee, another Black Democrat.
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Green → force → Menefee
He lost, and Houston lost one of its Black representatives in Congress.
asserted
Houston → lose → Congress
The ninth district, meanwhile, was redrawn to favour Republicans, one of at least five US congressional seats the party hopes to pick up in the midterm vote.
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party → redrawn → vote
The machinations have resonated with worshippers at Mt Hebron.
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machinations → resonate → Hebron
“I don’t like the redistricting at all because Al Green was moved out,” said 97-year-old Alice Jefferson, who had followed the congressman throughout his political career.
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who → like → career
“He always had good advice for the people.”
asserted
He → have → people
Janice Ray, a 61-year-old home health aide and entrepreneur, said state lawmakers were “trying to move people out of the district that they’re familiar with”.
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they → say → that
“To me, it was all a bunch of BS,” she said.
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she → say → BS
“But we’ll stand firm, regardless of what they try to do,” Ray added. “Because just like it was changed, it can always be changed back.
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it → stand → what
‘Voices have been weakened’
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Voices → weaken → ?
The redistricting process has undergone a generational transformation this election season, one that, experts say, has degraded longstanding guardrails protecting minority voting power.
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experts → undergo → power
“In political science, we have what we call descriptive representation,” Michael Adams, a professor at Texas Southern University in Houston, told Al Jazeera.
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Adams → have → Jazeera
“In terms of descriptive representation, minorities and others feel that if they can elect someone who reflects their values, for example, and who may look like them, their voting can be defined as one voice.”
uncertain
voting → feel → voice
“And certainly with not having an additional Black member of Congress representing Houston, a significant segment of Black voters may feel that their voices have been weakened,” he said.
uncertain
he → have → voters
This year Republican and Democratic state legislatures across the country joined the spree: Republicans successfully redistricted in Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Ohio; Democrats did so in California, while a court-ordered map in Utah handed Democrats a favourable seat.
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map → join → seat
A Democratic push in Virginia was subsequently invalidated.
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push → invalidate → Virginia
Redrawing maps mid-decade, and not waiting for the latest demographic numbers from the US census, was already atypical.
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Redrawing → redrawe → census
But many of the maps drawn this year would have been deemed illegal in previous cycles.
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many → draw → cycles
Section 2 of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, initially passed to counter blatantly racist voting practices in the US, had long prohibited redrawing congressional maps to dilute the electoral power of minority voters.
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Section → pass → voters
In April, the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court ruled that anyone challenging such a map must prove “racist intent”.
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anyone → dominate → intent
Critics have said the ruling effectively allows for racial gerrymandering, with proving such an intent an unreasonably high bar.
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proving → say → intent
But critics of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act have said drawing maps to protect minority voting power is in itself discriminatory.
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drawing → say → itself
Defenders in Texas, meanwhile, have said the redistricting was based on the shifting political makeup of the state, and not racial gerrymandering.
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redistricting → say → state
“This plan includes political considerations, public testimony, recognition of population growth and recent changes in voter trends,” State Representative Todd Hunter, a Republican, said shortly after the new map’s passage last year.
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Hunter → include → passage
“Each of these newly drawn districts now trend Republican in political performance.
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Each → draw → performance
While there’s no guarantee of electoral success, Republicans will now have an opportunity to potentially win these districts,” he said.
asserted
he → ’ → districts
A political test
There are no guarantees that a party’s redistricting plans will actually work.
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plans → be → ?
Following the tit-for-tat map redrawings, Republicans hoped to net at least 13 seats nationally.
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Republicans → follow → seats
Polling has suggested their gains may be much more muted.
uncertain
gains → suggest → ?
All told, about 35 million US voters will be casting ballots in newly redistricted seats this election.
asserted
voters → tell → seats
“Redistricting can change the political boundaries, but it can’t guarantee how voters will behave,” Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor at the University of Houston, told Al Jazeera.
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Rottinghaus → change → Jazeera
In Texas, the Republican map was drawn largely based on recent Latino voting trends.
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map → draw → trends
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
