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# Never Run With Scissors ✂️
- URL: https://www.thebarbedwire.com/never-run-with-scissors/
- Published: 2026-11-04T20:54:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T20:54:33.000Z
- Description: The GOP gerrymander of Texas backfired. Some of us saw it coming.
- Author: Billy Begala
- Tags: Perspectives, 2026 Election

Yesterday’s beautiful, glorious, historic Democratic victory in Texas is rife with jaw-dropping factoids and fascinating political nuggets.

But perhaps none were more satisfying, more Schadenfreude-inspiring, than watching the new Congressional map — that Republicans shamefully and hastily drew last year at the behest of Donald Trump — crumble before them.

Back in the summer of 2025, soon-to-be-former governor Greg Abbott called a special session out of the blue, demanding the legislature draw new Congressional districts across Texas — a task they had completed four years prior on their Constitutionally-mandated cadence.

Trump’s orders were simple: find five *additional* congressional districts for Republicans to win, on top of the 25 they already held. Like good little pawns, Texas Republicans did as they were told and produced a map that fit the bill: a gerrymander that, based on 2024 presidential election results, would produce a shocking **30** safe Republican congressional districts.

However, those districts were not as safe as they may have looked. In July of 2025 [I wrote](https://www.thebarbedwire.com/texas-republicans-gerrymandering-maps-trump/):

> …any Republicans gleefully spiking the football should be careful what they wish for.
> 
> Success for the GOP depends on a few important variables. Namely, the U.S. Supreme Court’s willingness to abide by the disenfranchisement of Black voters, and Republicans’ ability to hold onto gains with Latino voters.
> 
> …
> 
> continued Republican popularity among Latino voters in Texas is — to put it mildly — not a sure thing.
> 
> It’s no secret that President Donald Trump performed well with Latino voters in Texas in 2024\. This was largely driven by his promises to combat the rising cost of living and to deal with illegal immigration, both issues Latino voters care deeply about. Yet, Trump’s approval rating on immigration, once his bread-and-butter issue, is now underwater (for reasons that should be obvious). And if tariffs shoot the cost of living through the roof, it won’t be a surprise if Latino voters start swinging the other way.
> 
> …
> 
> The elephant in the room in this whole conversation is that Texas isn’t as conservative as it used to be. Yes, it’s true that Democrats haven’t won a statewide election since 1994\. However, in 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz received only 50.9% of the vote statewide. In 2020, Donald Trump got 52.1%. And just last year, Cruz got 53.1% of the vote in an election cycle that was widely viewed as a massive success for Republicans.
> 
> In a state where they receive between 51-53% of the vote, Republicans are seeking to control 79% of the congressional districts.
> 
> In other words, Republicans are spreading themselves thin.
> 
> And they’re doing so right before a midterm election in which their president is historically unpopular — so it might just come back and bite them in the ass.

If only the Texas GOP subscribed to *The Barbed Wire*, perhaps they may have saved themselves from this utter, embarrassing self-own.

Last night, James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, and a slew of wildly talented Democratic congressional candidates like Bobby Pulido did what many thought was impossible and secured a massive victory for Democrats in Texas. And in their humiliating defeat, Republicans *lost* a seat, despite drawing themselves these five new “safe” districts. Of those five new districts, Republicans only won one. And in the process, they had to spread their existing districts thinner, which resulted in them losing two seats they had controlled.

Sometimes, bad things do happen to bad actors.

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