Houston Congressional Candidate Jailed After Protesting Redistricting Hearing

A Houston congressional candidate was still in jail in Austin Friday a day after he was removed from a public hearing for protesting the GOP push to redraw congressional districts.

Isaiah Martin — one of more than two dozen candidates vying for the congressional seat left vacant when U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died in March — faces misdemeanor charges for disrupting a meeting, resisting arrest and criminal trespass, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Travis County court records showed Martin, 27, was still in jail Friday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after he was forcibly removed from a state House redistricting committee hearing where he shouted "Shame!" at lawmakers and ignored the chairman's instructions to quiet down. Several security officers tackled him as he resisted effort to have him removed. He was then taken out of the Capitol.

READ MORE: Texas Republicans kick off redistricting hearings without any new maps

A Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman said Martin was arrested around 7 p.m. after he "refused to obey requests from committee members and subsequent orders from DPS to leave a committee hearing at the Texas State Capitol."

Martin's brother posted an update on the social media site X on Friday afternoon saying his family hadn't been able to speak to him to get information on his case. He said in the post that Martin was using his freedom of speech in a public hearing and "willingly walked with the officers out of the building."

"I don't know of anybody who's been in jail for this long for using your First Amendment rights at a public testimony," Martin's brother said in the video post. "This is what happens in Donald Trump's America."

A Travis County spokesperson said he had not yet seen a magistrate judge who will set his terms of release.

Martin is a Houston native who worked for Sheila Jackson Lee, the former congresswoman who for decades represented the district he is now running in.

The predominantly Black district is one of several that may be targeted by the rare mid-decade redistricting effort, which President Donald Trump has sought to bolster Republicans's chances of holding Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

Gov. Greg Abbott added redistricting to the special session agenda after the Trump administration’s Justice Department sent a letter arguing race was illegally used as a factor in deciding the makeup of at least four majority-minority districts represented by Democrats, three of which are in Houston.