Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has represented the Lone Star State’s 9th Congressional District since 2005, is set to leave office after Republican-led redistricting shifted the district’s political balance, making it heavily Republican.
The redistricting also affected Texas’s 18th, 29th and 33rd districts and was part of a broader effort to align congressional maps with population changes from the latest U.S. Census.
The move effectively ends Green’s nearly two-decade tenure in Congress.
Green criticized the plan, describing it as “extreme invidious discrimination” and claiming it targeted black and Hispanic communities, undermining minority representation while sidelining him politically.
He suggested that the Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton played a role in orchestrating the changes.
In a statement responding to the proposed lines, Green wrote, “Today, I received what appears to be the proposed redistricting congressional lines for Texas…Point one: the map is extreme invidious discrimination…Two, the DOJ demanded that the race card be played, and the Governor dealt the people of Texas a racist hand.”
Republicans leading the redistricting emphasized that the adjustments were based on population fairness rather than race.
State Sen. Joan Huffman (R), chair of the redistricting committee, testified under oath that race was