Who’s really drawing your new congressional district? If you guessed a Texan with roots in your community, values in your neighborhood, and boots on your street—you’d be wrong.

The redistricting wizard behind the Texas map manipulation curtain is none other than Adam Kincaid, a partisan cartographer hailing not from Houston, not from Dallas, but from Virginia. Yes, the Lone Star State's political destiny is being sketched from the East Coast—by a longtime GOP operative with ties to Trump-aligned legal groups and a career built on one objective: power by design.

Let that sink in. And now let’s draw the real map for our readers.

Kincaid, Courts, and the Commission: Redrawing Texas, Silencing Texans

In a 3-2 party-line vote that left local leaders and voters fuming, Tarrant County’s Republican commissioners handed $250,000 of taxpayer dollars to the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF)—a right-wing D.C. law firm with a reputation for undermining voting rights—to defend a redistricting map many call a blatant act of racial and political suppression.

Who did PILF tap to shape this new political reality? Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust and former GOP mapmaker-in-chief. Under his pencil, districts have shifted, merged, and been carved up in ways that shrink the voices of Black and Latino communities while expanding Republican strongholds.

As Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons powerfully said, “This is essentially hiring the arsonist to put out the fire.”

The Map’s Message: Suppress, Collapse, Control

Congressman Greg Casar, whose Austin-San Antonio-based district is now on the chopping block, didn’t mince words: “This is illegal voter suppression.” The map, which would collapse his seat and merge it with fellow Democrat Lloyd Doggett’s, is a textbook example of political gerrymandering with a discriminatory twist.

It’s not just Casar. Two seats in the Rio Grande Valley—historic homes to Democratic voters—are being redrawn to lean more Republican. In the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, blue districts are being drained of their influence. And in Harris County, voters are suing under the Voting Rights Act, alleging violations of the 14th and 15th Amendments.

And all this while Kincaid claims the map “benefits” minority communities? Texans aren’t buying the spin.

Trump’s Fingerprints Are Everywhere

Let’s not pretend this is just local maneuvering. Former President Donald Trump, in his ongoing effort to stack the House, has been lobbying hard behind the scenes for redistricting changes in Texas—because if the GOP can’t win on policy, they’ll win by rigging the map.

And while Trump's DOJ has faced intense scrutiny for politicization and voter suppression tactics, its silence on this map speaks volumes. Texans are being outmaneuvered not just by local powerbrokers, but by national puppeteers.

A National Problem. A Texas-Sized Resistance.

While states like California and New York grapple with their own redistricting efforts—some still playing politics, others attempting reforms—Texas’ mid-decade redraw is a warning sign for democracy across the nation.

But here’s the good news: Texans are rising up. From courthouse lawsuits to community coalitions, citizens are demanding transparency, representation, and justice. And at the heart of this movement is the Texas Citizens and Voter Rights Act—a bold response to systemic disenfranchisement.

This Act, designed to safeguard voter power and protect historically marginalized communities, has never been more vital. It’s a beacon for Texans who refuse to be redrawn into silence.

Houston Style Magazine’s Call to Action

Houston Style Magazine stands firm: Democracy is not a drawing board for out-of-state operatives or partisan manipulation.

If you live in Texas, your vote should count—your district should reflect your community, not a Virginia Republican’s spreadsheet.

Share this article. Speak out at hearings. Demand accountability. And most

importantly, support the Texas Citizens and Voter Rights Act.

Because your power? It’s not in a map. It’s in your voice.