“Get engaged. Recognize that politics does affect you,” Johnson said.
DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson has made her decision about her future in politics as she prepares for another election cycle in North Texas.
“People have a lot of confidence in my ability to do this job,” Johnson said.
Even after the Dec. 4 Supreme Court ruling that upheld Texas’ mid-census redistricting plan, Johnson is staying in the race despite the new maps.
“I filed to run for election in the new Congressional District 33, in Dallas,” Johnson said.
The district is currently represented by fellow Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey. Johnson’s filing comes after months of legal battles, protests and political maneuvering to stop Texas Republicans are pushing to redraw congressional boundaries in a push to gain five additional U.S. House seats.
Texas Democrats attempted to block the effort by boycotting the session in Austin to prevent the GOP’s redistricting vote. They along with voting rights groups also sued, and initially won, arguing the map amounted to racial gerrymandering that diluted the voting power of Black and Hispanic voters.
The victory was short-lived after the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling and allowed the new map to move forward.
“I’m really disappointed in what the Supreme Court did. I think their decision is wrong,” Johnson said. “But, you know, we have to live with it and move on.”
Attorney and political law expert Andrew Cates has followed the redistricting fight closely.
“I will openly say I don’t think race had anything to do with it. It was very clearly party supremacy as the end goal,” Cates said,” I’m a Democrat myself.”
Cates is a Texas political attorney and lobbyist who owns Cates Legal Group PLLC, where he advises political campaigns, PACs, nonprofits, and others on election, ethics and lobbying law. He is the author of Texas Ethics Laws Annotated, is board-certified in Legislative and Campaign Law, and has previously served in government affairs roles with the Texas Nurses Association and the Texas Association of Realtors.
Cates believes the ruling leaves Democratic candidates across the state scrambling ahead of Monday’s filing deadline.
“Everybody needing to move districts and, refile or file for a different race,” Cates said.
He is now watching what happens next for Veasey and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, both directly affected by the new political boundaries.
Johnson says that the stakes for all voters could not be higher. She is confident that her record speaks for itself, both with voters and with her republican counterparts, with whom she has established non-partisan relationships over the years.
“Get engaged. Recognize that politics does affect you,” Julie Johnson said.