Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro sought recommendations earlier this summer for inclusion in the list. Credit: Public Domain / Nate Payne
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and 10 other Democrats from Texas’ congressional delegation sent a letter Friday to the Justice Department demanding a probe into Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s “state-sponsored voter intimidation.”

The letter comes shortly after Paxton orchestrated raids on South Texas Democratic operatives as part of an “ongoing election integrity investigation.” It also comes two days after the Republican AG sued Bexar County over its plan to mail unsolicited voter-registration forms to residents.

Although Paxton and other Texas Republicans maintain the raids and lawsuit are in the interest of quashing voter fraud, Castro and other Dems signing the letter argue the moves amount to illegal voter intimidation that violates the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act.

“All of these things are meant to keep new people from becoming voters in Texas,” Castro said on a Wednesday press call. “If you’ve been winning elections for 20-plus years statewide, then you don’t want new people [to vote]. You want the same people to vote over and over. You want that voter profile in Texas to look exactly the same, and that’s what they’re trying to do.”

The letter also argues that Paxton’s tactics are being used to target Latinos and members of minority communities specifically. It was signed by U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar, Lloyd Doggett, Jasmine Crocket, Greg Casar, Al Green, Lizzie Fletcher, Sylvia Garcia, Marc Vasey, Vicente Gonzalez and Collin Allred. Casar’s district also includes San Antonio.

The letter also lambasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent decision to scrub 6,500 residents from the state’s voter rolls.

“There is little to no transparency in how Gov. Abbott has assessed these individuals to be ‘potential noncitizens,’ and we fear these decisions may be made on the basis of those individuals’ perceived race or ethnicity and may deny American citizens their right to vote,” the coalition wrote.

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This article appears in Aug 21 – Sep 4, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...