A Dallas-area neighborhood has been carved up by redistricting, and neighbors on either side of the dividing line have very different feelings about the outcome — highlighting the impact of the nationwide battle ahead of the midterms.
DALLAS —
The battle for control of Congress began weeks before a single vote was cast in the midterm elections.
In the last few months, states across the country have rushed to redraw their maps as both parties sought a partisan advantage. As a result, one in 10 voters will be casting a ballot in a newly formed district this cycle.
But how do those voters feel? In one Dallas suburb, neighbors who have found themselves on opposite sides of a new dividing line have very different opinions about redistricting.
Divided by redistricting
Raymond Alfred and Claudia Goodman live just feet apart, but their homes now sit in separate congressional districts after Texas Republicans redrew the state’s map last year. Until then, they shared the same district.
“If you look toward our west, right on our street, four doors down is our old congressional district,” Goodman said.
Goodman’s former district, centered around Dallas and its suburbs, voted for Kamala Harris by about 24 points. Her new district stretches into East Texas and would have backed Donald Trump by about 18 points.
“My vote is disrespected and diminished in its power,” Goodman said.
Alfred, however, sees the redistricting differently.
“We’re never going to have any issue with the redistricting because it was put in place for our benefit,” he said.
A political arms race
The neighborhood’s division is part of a broader political strategy that began after President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional map.
“There could be some other states… we’re going to get another three or four or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one,” Trump said in July 2025. Typically, the maps are only redrawn every decade, around the time of the census.
The redistricting has triggered a political arms race, with both parties rushing to redraw maps in their favor. Nine states now have new congressional maps in place for this election, and the Cook Political Report estimates Republicans gained the upper hand.
However, political experts warn that overextending a party’s advantage can backfire.
“The reason it can backfire is if you take all your Republican-leaning voters and spread them not across 25 districts, but across 30 districts, you dilute your Republican majorities,” said Cal Jillson, a political expert at Southern Methodist University.
Jillson also noted that redistricting can exacerbate political tensions.
“It heightens the tension, it heightens the conflict, the vitriol. And we’ve got plenty of that in our elections,” he said.
On this Dallas street, the tension is palpable.
“There ain’t no gray area in it, you know what I mean? Like somebody is going to lose,” Alfred said. “I think we — I think a lot of people want to be warm and fuzzy and say, ‘No, everybody has to get a win out of this and great job,’ and hand out participation awards. It don’t work that way.”
Goodman disagreed.
“This is an erosion of our democracy. And the drawing of congressional district lines was never meant to serve this purpose. So, no, I do not agree that this is a perk to the victors,” she said.
