Millions of Texas voters are casting ballots under redrawn U.S. House maps that were engineered to boost Republicans in the 2026 elections. Tuesday's primary elections in Texas are among the first in the nation ahead of November's midterms.
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Here's who is most at risk and symptoms to watch forCallers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish and get accented AI English insteadIn Minnesota, US cardinals and pope’s ambassador decry mass deportations and call for reconciliationEjército de EEUU usó un láser para derribar un dron de la Patrulla Fronteriza, según legisladoresU.S. NewsRene Martinez, president of Dallas LULAC #100, poses for a photo in front of his home Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Dallas. Luke Wilkinson, 43, an inventory manager at car dealership, spends time at a park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Ryan Vannest, 53, a retired high school teacher, spends time with his dog Ella at a dog park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. The former Mayor of the City of Forest Hill, Clara Faulkner, 82, sits for a photo at her home in Forest Hill, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Rene Martinez, president of Dallas LULAC #100, poses for a photo in front of his home Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Dallas. Rene Martinez, president of Dallas LULAC #100, poses for a photo in front of his home Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Dallas. Luke Wilkinson, 43, an inventory manager at car dealership, spends time at a park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Luke Wilkinson, 43, an inventory manager at car dealership, spends time at a park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Ryan Vannest, 53, a retired high school teacher, spends time with his dog Ella at a dog park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Ryan Vannest, 53, a retired high school teacher, spends time with his dog Ella at a dog park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. The former Mayor of the City of Forest Hill, Clara Faulkner, 82, sits for a photo at her home in Forest Hill, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. The former Mayor of the City of Forest Hill, Clara Faulkner, 82, sits for a photo at her home in Forest Hill, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Texas’ primary elections on Tuesday are among the first in the nation this year, and for millions of voters, their choices for Congress are different than last time.to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of November’s midterm elections, voters are casting ballots under the new boundaries. President Donald Trump last year pressured Republican-led statesare engineered to help Republicans win five additional House seats. The changes fused liberal Dallas neighborhoods with conservative pockets of East Texas and shifted lines along the U.S.-Mexico border to seize on GOP gains with Hispanic voters. The redrawn boundaries for partisan gain worry some Democratic voters about representation. Republican supporters see a fairer reflection of the state’s conservative politics. And in corners of Houston,Angela Juergens, 37, grew up in New York and moved to Texas after college to work as a public school art teacher. Now a married stay-at-home mother of two, she has questioned living in a state governed by hard-right Republicans but found community with like-minded Democratic voters in her leafy Dallas neighborhood. Juergens formerly lived in a district that Kamala Harris carried by double-digits in the 2024 presidential election and was represented by Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson. But the new maps moved her street into Republican Rep. Lance Gooden’s district, which stretches more than 100 miles east into Texas’ rural, piney woods. “We felt represented, but with this change, we did not elect Lance Gooden and we don’t feel at home with that,” she said. “While this administration feels like it’s out of control, we need some checks and balances in the government,” Juergens said. “And we need a true representation of all the people and it just feels like they are just trying to cut it all out.”Ryan Vannest, 53, has been a Republican voter since 1990 and long admired GOP figures like Ronald Reagan, John McCain and George H.W. Bush. The retired high school teacher, who lives along the U.S.-Mexico border, was not thrilled that he went from Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s district to one represented by Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar, who faced bribery and conspiracy charges until he wasHe said he dislikes Trump and cast protest votes for actors during all three of his presidential campaigns. Redrawing maps to gain a partisan edge doesn’t sit well with him. “It’s just so extreme,” Vannest said. “They’re pandering to the elite, rich, white folk who just want to keep themselves in power. The redistricting, it’s just another example of it, trying to keep power.”When Clara Faulkner moved into the Fort Worth suburb of Forest Hill nearly 50 years ago, almost no other Black residents lived there. But she gradually watched the community shift into a racially diverse area and part of a safely Democratic congressional district. The new map moves Faulkner, an 83-year-old former mayor in the small town of about 14,000 residents, into an overwhelming right-leaning district held by Republican U.S. Rep. Roger Williams. Roughly half of residents are white in her new district that stretches into mostly rural counties. “It’s just outlandish racism, right in your face,” Faulkner said. “How the Republicans operate has never been a benefit to me,” Faulkner said. “And the way they draw the Republican districts just to tear our neighborhoods apart, I think they believe in divide and conquer.”Kenneth Crawley, 81, a retired nurse living in Mission along the U.S.-Mexico border, said he didn’t like being moved out of Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s district. But he also believes it’s important that Republicans remain in power, saying they best represent his own desire for low taxes and strong public safety. He votes unapologetically for a straight-GOP ticket. “I stick with the party, and the party that I stick with is the Republican Party because that’s the things that they support,” Crawley said. “In this new district, the Democrats, they want to let all these foreigners come across the border. That’s not what I want.”Rene Martinez, 79, a Democratic voter, was also moved into Gooden’s solidly Republican district. He worries that concerns over farm subsidies or health access in rural areas Gooden represents are much different than his priorities in Dallas, where he is president of a local council of the League of United Latin American Citizens.He still has hopes this election year for Democrats even though his district is not expected to be competitive. Martinez pointed to theRepublican voter Luke Wilkinson, a 43-year-old inventory manager at a car dealership in the the Rio Grande Valley, doesn’t consider redistricting a big deal. For one, he is skeptical that “my vote or my opinion matter all that much.” He said he has a job to do, bills to pay and other things to worry about. He was also drawn into Cuellar’s district and called the congressman “a decent enough guy.” But he says he’ll still vote for the GOP nominee because the party reflects his beliefs. “I’ll still vote. I’ll vote the way I feel and what my heart says,” Wilkinson said. “If I’m in a different district, that doesn’t change anything.”Hanna covers politics and state government in Kansas for The Associated Press. He’s worked for the AP in Topeka since 1986.Cooper is a national politics reporter based in Phoenix. He previously covered news and politics in Arizona, California and Oregon.
Lance Gooden Henry Cuellar Kenneth Crawley U.S. Republican Party Texas 2026 Elections Voting Dallas U.S. Democratic Party Mexico Redistricting General News Latin America TX State Wire Central America United States House Of Representatives Clara Faulkner Midterm Elections Roger Williams Ryan Vannest 2020 United States Presidential Election George H. W. Bush John Mccain Politics Julie Johnson Rene Martinez Kamala Harris Elections U.S. News Angela Juergens Luke Wilkinson Ronald Reagan U.S. News
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