In their own words: Texans vote under redrawn maps ordered by Trump

Texas' primary elections on Tuesday are among the first in the nation this year, and for millions of voters, their choices for Congress are different than last time.

Months after Texas set off a nationwide scramble to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of November's midterm elections, voters are casting ballots under the new boundaries. President Donald Trump last year pressured Republican-led states to alter congressional districts with the goal of blunting Democrats' chances to reclaim power.

In Texas, where one of the nation's biggest U.S. Senate races is also unfolding, the new maps are engineered to help Republicans win five additional House seats. The changes fused liberal Dallas neighborhoods with conservative pockets of East Texas and shifted lines along the U.S.-Mexico border to seize on GOP gains with Hispanic voters.

The redrawn boundaries for partisan gain worry some Democratic voters about representation. Republican supporters see a fairer reflection of the state's conservative politics. And in corners of Houston, outright confusion persists.

Angela Juergens, 37, grew up in New York and moved to Texas after college to work as a public school art teacher. Now a married stay-at-home mother of two, she has questioned living in a state governed by hard-right Republicans but found community with like-minded Democratic voters in her leafy Dallas neighborhood.

Juergens formerly lived in a district that Kamala Harris carried by double-digits in the 2024 presidential election and was represented by Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson. But the new maps moved her street into Republican Rep. Lance Gooden's district, which stretches more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) east into Texas' rural, piney woods.

“We felt represented, but with this change, we did not elect Lance Gooden and we don’t feel at home with that,” she said.

“While this administration feels like it’s out of control, we need some checks and balances in the government,” Juergens said. “And we need a true representation of all the people and it just feels like they are just trying to cut it all out.”

Ryan Vannest, 53, has been a Republican voter since 1990 and long admired GOP figures like Ronald Reagan, John McCain and George H.W. Bush.

The retired high school teacher, who lives along the U.S.-Mexico border, was not thrilled that he went from Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s district to one represented by Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar, who faced bribery and conspiracy charges until he was pardoned by Trump. “We just need new people,” Vannest said.

He said he dislikes Trump and cast protest votes for actors during all three of his presidential campaigns. Redrawing maps to gain a partisan edge doesn't sit well with him.

“It’s just so extreme,” Vannest said. “They’re pandering to the elite, rich, white folk who just want to keep themselves in power. The redistricting, it’s just another example of it, trying to keep power.”

When Clara Faulkner moved into the Fort Worth suburb of Forest Hill nearly 50 years ago, almost no other Black residents lived there. But she gradually watched the community shift into a racially diverse area and part of a safely Democratic congressional district.

The new map moves Faulkner, an 83-year-old former mayor in the small town of about 14,000 residents, into an overwhelming right-leaning district held by Republican U.S. Rep. Roger Williams. Roughly half of residents are white in her new district that stretches into mostly rural counties. “It’s just outlandish racism, right in your face,” Faulkner said.

“How the Republicans operate has never been a benefit to me,” Faulkner said. “And the way they draw the Republican districts just to tear our neighborhoods apart, I think they believe in divide and conquer.”

Kenneth Crawley, 81, a retired nurse living in Mission along the U.S.-Mexico border, said he didn't like being moved out of Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s district.

But he also believes it's important that Republicans remain in power, saying they best represent his own desire for low taxes and strong public safety. He votes unapologetically for a straight-GOP ticket.

“I stick with the party, and the party that I stick with is the Republican Party because that’s the things that they support,” Crawley said. “In this new district, the Democrats, they want to let all these foreigners come across the border. That’s not what I want.”

Rene Martinez, 79, a Democratic voter, was also moved into Gooden's solidly Republican district. He worries that concerns over farm subsidies or health access in rural areas Gooden represents are much different than his priorities in Dallas, where he is president of a local council of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

"I can’t identify with it. They can’t identify with us,” Martinez said.

He still has hopes this election year for Democrats even though his district is not expected to be competitive. Martinez pointed to the stunning special election upset in January when a Democrat flipped a state Senate district that Trump carried by double digits in 2024.

“I’m feeling like we’ve got some tailwinds behind our sails a little bit,” he said.

Republican voter Luke Wilkinson, a 43-year-old inventory manager at a car dealership in the the Rio Grande Valley, doesn’t consider redistricting a big deal.

For one, he is skeptical that “my vote or my opinion matter all that much.” He said he has a job to do, bills to pay and other things to worry about. He was also drawn into Cuellar’s district and called the congressman “a decent enough guy.” But he says he’ll still vote for the GOP nominee because the party reflects his beliefs.

“I’ll still vote. I’ll vote the way I feel and what my heart says,” Wilkinson said. “If I’m in a different district, that doesn’t change anything.”

The former Mayor of the City of Forest Hill, Clara Faulkner, 82, sits for a photo at her home in Forest Hill, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Ryan Vannest, 53, a retired high school teacher, spends time with his dog Ella at a dog park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Luke Wilkinson, 43, an inventory manager at car dealership, spends time at a park in Mission, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Rene Martinez, president of Dallas LULAC #100, poses for a photo in front of his home Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Angela Juergens poses for a photo at her home, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday in what President Donald Trump said was a massive operation to destroy the country’s military capabilities and eliminate the threat of it creating a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it would defend its homeland and its Revolutionary Guard said it launched counterattacks, firing drones and missiles at Israel and strikes aimed at U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

The strikes came after Trump has pressured Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program, building up a fleet of American warships in the region as the country struggles with growing dissent following nationwide protests.

More than 80 people were reported killed and dozens wounded at a girls’ school in southern Iran in the Israeli-U.S. strikes, the local governor told Iranian state TV. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the capital of the United Arab Emirates killed one person, state media said.

Israel announced it had launched an attack on Iran shortly after explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday morning. One of the first strikes hit near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It wasn't immediately clear where Khamenei was at the time; he hadn't been seen for days.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian are alive “as far as I know.”

In a video statement, Netanyahu said Israel was striking targets connected to the “oppressive regime” and military sites, including missile installations. “The objective of the operation is to put an end to the threat from the Ayatollah regime in Iran,” he said, adding that it would continue “as long as necessary.”

Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the island kingdom. Witnesses heard sirens and explosions in Kuwait, home to U.S. Army Central. Explosions could also be heard in Qatar, where Al Udeid Air Base hosts thousands of service members.

Saudi Arabia said on state-run media that it had repelled attacks by Iran on its capital and eastern region.

Iraq and the United Arab Emirates closed their airspace, and sirens sounded in Jordan.

An apartment building in northern Israel was damaged and shrapnel fell in multiple sites, according to media and police. But Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said there had been no significant hits in Israel and rescue services said there were no injuries reported from missile barrages across the country.

Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, meanwhile, have vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement from leadership.

It took over an hour for Trump to make an official announcement on the U.S. involvement in what he termed “major combat operations.”

In an 8-minute video on social media, Trump indicated the U.S. was striking for reasons far beyond the nuclear program, listing grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic following a revolution in 1979 that turned Iran from one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East into a fierce foe.

Trump told Iranians to take cover but urged them to later rise up and topple the Islamic leadership.

“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said. “It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

The attacks came a day after Trump voiced frustration over lack of progress in negotiations to stop Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons.

Israel said it had worked with the U.S. for months to plan the attacks.

Before U.S.-Iran negotiations were underway in Geneva, the U.S. had assembled a vast fleet of fighter jets and warships in the region to try to pressure Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in January to bolster the number of warships in the region. The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean to head to the Middle East and are now in the Mediterranean.

The fleet has added more than 10,000 U.S. troops to the region.

The fighting disrupted air travel in the region.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates, home to both the long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, closed their airspace Saturday. Qatar Airways Group said it has temporarily canceled flights to and from Doha because Qatari airspace also was closed.

Planes en route to Israel were rerouted to other airports.

Virgin Atlantic canceled its flight from London's Heathrow Airport to Dubai and said it would avoid flying over Iraq, meaning flights to and from India, the Maldives, Dubai and Riyadh could take slightly longer. Virgin Atlantic said all flights would carry appropriate fuel in case they need to reroute on short notice.

Turkish Airlines said on X that flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan will be suspended until Monday and flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman would be suspended on Saturday.

Dutch airline KLM previously said it was suspending Tel Aviv flights starting Sunday.

Rescue workers and residents search through the rubble in the aftermath of an Israeli-U.S. strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (ISNA via AP)

People sits in a shelter after warning sirens sound following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Vehicles drive along a highway following Israeli and U.S. strikes in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vehicles queue outside a gas station following Israeli strikes in the city, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)