October 3, 2025

When Texas Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map this summer, it made national news. When Democrats delayed the process by leaving the state, legacy media provided wall-to-wall coverage. Now that a federal court will decide whether these illegal maps will be in place for 2026, there’s silence.

On Wednesday, a 10-day hearing on the lawsuits challenging this horrible gerrymander kicked off in a federal courthouse in El Paso, Texas. On the first day, there was a smattering of news coverage from a handful of outlets in the courtroom. By the second day, that number had dropped. On Friday, it dwindled further. 

With five congressional seats at stake, virtually all of our national legacy media made the choice not to send anyone. 

With the current Republican House majority at just three seats, this should be one of the biggest political stories in the country. And yet, it is barely being covered.

I understand why. El Paso is not New York or Washington, D.C., where many national reporters are based. Keeping a full-time reporter in court for ten days is a major expense for any media outlet. In an era of shrinking budgets, many outlets find it hard to justify.

For a small news organization like Democracy Docket, this is both a significant investment and a point of pride. Since its founding in 2020, I’ve wanted Democracy Docket to be the go-to source for deeply reported news about voting, elections, and the courts. We’ve already made great progress toward that goal, but having Jen cover the entire Texas redistricting hearing marks an important next step.

Crucially, all of her trial coverage — every article, social media post, and video — is completely free to everyone. You can follow it at DemocracyDocket.com, on our YouTube channel, and across our social media accounts.

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If you’d like to help support Democracy Docket’s mission while gaining access to premium content, please join today. If not, I hope you continue to enjoy all of our free content, including Jen’s reporting from Texas.