Texas Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t buying Democratic claims that the state’s new redistricting maps will disenfranchise minority voters—and he’s not shy about saying so.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Abbott mocked Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) for alleging that the GOP’s plan to add up to five Republican-leaning House seats would “silence” black, Hispanic, and Asian voters. “It wouldn’t be a day that ends in the letter Y if Jasmine Crockett didn’t say something racist,” Abbott quipped, before dismantling her argument point by point.
Abbott noted that, under the proposed maps, four of the new seats would be predominantly Hispanic. Far from being shut out of the process, he said, minority communities in Texas are increasingly supporting Republicans—particularly Hispanics, who have shifted right in recent election cycles.
“They all want secure borders, they don’t want men in women’s sports, and they want support for law enforcement,” Abbott argued, saying Democratic policies are “contrary to the ideas” of many minority voters.
He pointed to Donald Trump’s electoral performance as proof: in 2024, Trump carried 46% of Hispanic voters, 40% of Asian voters, and 13% of black voters in Texas—significant gains from his 2016 and 2020 numbers. Trump even won all five of the congressional districts that the GOP’s redistricting plan is now targeting to add to their House tally.
Abbott accused Democrats of clinging to the idea that minority voters should only be “entitled” to elect Democrats of their own race, instead of letting the electorate in each district decide freely.
“What we are finding is these Hispanics are voting for Republicans,” he said. “They’re gonna find that Democrats are going to lose voters and Republicans will be picking up voters.”
Crockett, appearing the day before on MSNBC, painted a starkly different picture, claiming African Americans would have just “one fifth of the voting power they should have” under the new maps, Latinos only “one-third,” and Asians “literally no power.” Abbott dismissed those numbers as political spin designed to preserve Democratic power in districts they’ve long controlled.
With Texas’s rapid demographic shifts cutting across party lines, Abbott’s message is clear: the GOP isn’t drawing maps to silence minority voters—they’re drawing them to reflect a political reality in which Democrats can no longer rely on them.
