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Green went so far as to compare Texas Republicans to segregation-era racists. He argued that Black and Hispanic communities were being silenced simply because, as he put it, “they elect people of color.” That argument doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Redistricting is both legal and constitutional. It occurs after every census. Texas law also permits mid-decade redistricting, something Democrats themselves took advantage of back in the 1990s when they ran the state.
In fact, Democrats are the original architects of racially gerrymandered maps. In 1991, under Governor Ann Richards and Senator Eddie Bernice Johnson, Democrats drew districts specifically engineered to create majority-Black and majority-Hispanic seats—giving them a stranglehold on power.
Those maps were so blatantly rigged that the U.S. Supreme Court eventually struck them down in the landmark Bush v. Vera ruling of 1996.
In that case, the Court declared that Democrats had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because race was the dominant factor in how they designed the districts. The ruling was so damaging that it forced Texas to hold thirteen brand-new primary elections in 1996.
So when Democrats like Green cry “racism” today, they’re simply projecting. They built the system, abused it for decades, and now that Republicans are using the same legal framework—minus the racial politics—they can’t stand the outcome.
This time around, Texas Republicans designed maps that were based on population balance, not skin color. Senator Joan Huffman, who chaired the redistricting committee, even testified under oath that race was not a factor in the process.
The real issue wasn’t race at all. It was math.
During Joe Biden’s presidency, millions of illegal immigrants flooded into the United States. Many settled in urban areas like Houston, where Green’s district was located. Biden’s administration then instructed the census to count non-citizens when determining congressional representation.
That move distorted the principle of “one person, one vote.” Districts packed with non-citizens gained extra representation, even though those individuals can’t legally cast ballots. As a result, legal American citizens in other districts saw their votes carry less weight.
The latest redistricting corrected that imbalance by ensuring power went back to districts with actual voters. Because Green’s district was heavily padded with non-citizen residents, it was rightfully eliminated.
In short, Republicans played by the rules Democrats once wrote—but this time, without breaking the Constitution. And unlike the Democrats’ gerrymanders of the past, the courts aren’t likely to strike these maps down.
For Al Green, the game is finally over. After nearly two decades of loud speeches, failed legislation, and accusations of racism, his political career has been cut short—not by discrimination, but by fairness.
