After redistricting’s wreckage, North Texas Democrats seek to heal, strike back

State Sen. Nathan Johnson’s election night celebration was in full swing when Julie Johnson arrived singing a sad song.

The Farmers Branch Democrat lost a bitter congressional runoff to former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, her career in Congress cut short by last year’s Republican redrawing of the state’s congressional boundaries.

The changes to Dallas-area congressional districts prompted Johnson and two other North Texas congressional Democrats to seek other political options. Then other players emerged, setting off a game of political musical chairs.

When the music stopped, Johnson was without a seat.

A byproduct of redistricting is the acrimony it creates, with the fight for survival bitterly pitting allies against each other.

“Redistricting is a bitch,” she told the crowd at the Dallas party hailing Nathan Johnson’s Democratic nomination for attorney general. “It’s had its intended consequence, where none of the current incumbent members are likely to return to Congress here in North Texas.”

Republicans wreaked havoc on Dallas-area Democrats. The wreckage included:

• The North Texas congressional delegation being cut from three members to two in one of the bluest counties in the country.

• Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth and the longest-serving member of the Dallas-area delegation, chose to retire when his District 33 was changed to shed his Tarrant County political base. Veasey, a former state representative, won the seat and joined Congress after state lawmakers in 2011 created a majority-minority district.

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, opted to run for Senate after she was drawn out of District 30, where she had served since 2023. Though she could have still run in District 30 because there are no in-district residency requirements, Crockett said one reason for her Senate bid was to push back against President Donald Trump, who urged Texas Republicans to redraw congressional maps to gain up to five seats.

• The Democratic primary in District 33 was bruising. Allred attacked Johnson over stock trades she made while in Congress, while Johnson accused her rival of breaking with Democrats on immigration and border security. Leaked audio later revealed Johnson dismissing Veasey as a colleague who had not done a “damn thing” from his “cushy seat.”

“People have got to get over it,” said state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas. “Yes, there are hurt feelings, but they’re going to be more if we don’t come together and make certain that we at least take back the House of Representatives here in the state of Texas.”

In her remarks, Johnson said she’s on “team Democrat” and will help the entire Democratic ticket.

“We can’t have squabbling, we can’t have hard feelings,” Johnson said last week. “We all have to move on, because what is at stake for the values that we share is far too great than to get mired in petty grievances.”

Johnson, who served three terms in the Texas House before joining Congress, leaves a Dallas-area Democratic delegation that will look much different. Frederick Haynes III, senior pastor at Friendship West Baptist Church, is poised to replace Crockett in the heavily Democratic District 30. Allred, who served three terms before losing a Senate bid to Republican Ted Cruz, will keep his seniority when he returns to Congress.

For the first time since 1993, there are no Democratic women from North Texas in Congress. Johnson was the only openly LGBTQ member of Congress representing a Southern state.

And for the first time since 2012, there will be no Democratic member of Congress from Tarrant County, one of the most diverse areas in the region.

Even with the carnage of redistricting, Democrats are optimistic. The March 3 primary featured higher-than-normal voter turnout. Democrats hope a blue wave in November will not only fortify their strongholds, but also elect more of them from North Texas to the Legislature.

Democrats also are targeting Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, who last year led a redistricting effort to expand the Republican majority on the county’s Commissioners Court. Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons is the Democratic nominee against O’Hare.

The challenge for Democrats is to heal the wounds opened by redistricting and contentious primaries while trying to wrest power from Republicans.

If they can’t, Republicans will continue to use redistricting as a political power tool.