{"id":4598,"date":"2025-10-15T09:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T09:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4598\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T09:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T09:52:07","slug":"pasadena-councilman-joins-lawsuit-claiming-texas-new-congressional-maps-weaken-hispanic-voting-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4598\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasadena councilman joins lawsuit claiming Texas\u2019 new congressional maps weaken Hispanic voting power"},"content":{"rendered":"

PASADENA, Texas \u2013 A Pasadena<\/a> councilman has joined civil\u2011rights groups including LULAC<\/a> and MALDEF, in a lawsuit challenging Texas\u2019s new congressional maps<\/a>, saying the mid\u2011decade redraw was rushed, weakens minority voting power, and was done for political advantage.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Fort Bend County commissioners approve new precinct map after heated debate<\/a><\/p>\n

Councilman Emmanuel Guerrero<\/a> said the change moved Pasadena out of Congressional District 29 into a reconfigured CD 9 that now stretches into Liberty County. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow all of Pasadena, all the way to Liberty County<\/a>, is Congressional District 9,\u201d Guerrero said, arguing the swap makes the district more favorable to the president and reduces Hispanic influence.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: Texas GOP may be banking on low Hispanic turnout in new map<\/a><\/p>\n

University of St. Thomas<\/a> political\u2011science student Danny Fuentes, who grew up in the area now inside CD 9, said adding Liberty County shifts the district\u2019s political balance and noted the historically low Hispanic turnout in the area. <\/p>\n

Guerrero also accused state leaders of a \u201chidden agenda,\u201d saying national Republicans sought additional seats in Congress.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office pushed back. A statement from Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s<\/a> press team said the maps reflect Texans\u2019 conservative voting preferences and denied racial motivations, calling accusations of racial intent \u201cfalse,\u201d and noting Democrats previously described the redraw as a \u201cpartisan power grab.\u201d <\/p>\n

Manvel Councilwoman Crystal Sarmiento, a Mexican American conservative Latina, voiced support for the new lines, saying they force candidates to \u201cearn\u201d votes.<\/p>\n

MORE: Lawmakers redrew Texas\u2019 congressional districts. See how yours changed.<\/a><\/p>\n

The lawsuit seeks to restore the former maps before the upcoming elections. Plaintiffs argued the maps were drawn five years before the next census and, therefore, before the data normally used for redistricting. <\/p>\n

A preliminary injunction hearing was held last week; Guerrero said the plaintiffs hope for a decision by the end of next month.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PASADENA, Texas \u2013 A Pasadena councilman has joined civil\u2011rights groups including LULAC and MALDEF, in a lawsuit challenging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4941,392,4939,287,2830,27,4940,29,28,292],"class_list":["post-4598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-emmanuel-guerrero","tag-greg-abbott","tag-pasadena","tag-politics","tag-redistricting","tag-texas","tag-texas-congressional-maps","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}