Donald Trump's major election defeat in Texas was due in no small part to Ted Cruz.
A three-judge panel ruled against the Lone Star State. attempted fraud Tuesday, ordering Texas to return to its 2021 maps for the upcoming midterm elections. The decision was written by Judge Jeffrey W. Brown, whom Cruz recommended to the bench in 2019.
The realization has infuriated some members of Trump's base, who question how the Houston native could recommend someone who would make decisions contrary to the president's agenda.
“Ted Cruz clearly missed the mark with Brown,” conservative political strategist Mike Davis said in his newspaper. Published article on Fox News Channel Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Brown wrote that “substantial evidence” proves Texas “racially gerrymandered” its latest districts.
Trump proposed Texas could give Republicans five more House seats in July, flipping several blue districts next year through a “very simple redraw.” The Justice Department then threatened to sue over the issue, saying at least four Texas congressional districts were “unconstitutional” because the presence of multiple racial groups made white people a regional voting minority.
Redistricting is perfectly legal—as long as it complies with federal law. Trump's directive to Texas forced the state to focus on race rather than politics, contrary to national nondiscrimination laws. In the legal opinion, Brown noted that if these efforts had been aimed at disrupting Democratic strongholds in the state, they would also have targeted districts that were dominated by white Democrats,” but those were “noticeably absent.”
Brown determined that reverting to the 2021 map was a more appropriate solution than allowing Texas to make a different plan, since the 2021 iteration was not only crafted by the state legislature (as opposed to the state judiciary), but had been successfully used in the previous two congressional elections as well as the current special election. The ruling effectively ended Trump's dream of flipping Texas to help Republicans in Washington.
Meanwhile, Cruz lays warp to run for president in 2028, although it is unclear who in the MAGA movement will side with him.
