Remap bolsters GOP power play

[Judi Lynn]

Jan. 10, 2004, 7:11PM

Remap bolsters GOP power play
Plan adds numbers and clout while blocking off Dem comeback
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau


AUSTIN -- The Republican redistricting victory is about more than gaining a few additional congressional seats -- it's about consolidating GOP power and building roadblocks to a Democratic comeback.

A three-judge federal court last week approved a new congressional districts map that will erase the Democratic edge in Texas' U.S. House delegation and replace it with a likely 22-10 Republican majority after this year's elections.

That partisan shift will mark the pinnacle of the Republicans' 30-year march to dominance in Texas politics, a trek that gained dramatic momentum in the past decade.

When U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, was a member of the Texas House in 1983, Republicans held just one statewide office. And district boundaries denied the GOP anything other than a meager hold in seats in the Legislature and congressional delegation. (snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2345684