Attorney general's map gives Travis County three Republican incumbents in Congress
State's map would strip Doggett of Democratic base in county.
By Laylan Copelin, Tara Copp
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, July 14, 2006
Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, offered a new congressional map today that would strip U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, of his Democratic base in Travis County and split the county among three Republican incumbents.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month overturned one border district, saying it discriminated against 100,000 Latinos because heavily Latino Laredo was split between that district and another one. The court required parties to the redistricting lawsuit to submit suggested fixes to a panel of three federal judges.
The state's map is just one of several expected to be filed today, but it likely will get serious consideration by the court because it represents the state's position.
"The state's map is a map that Tom DeLay would be proud of," said Ed Martin, a Democratic redistricting expert, referring to the former U.S. House majority leader who engineered the 2003 re-mapping of Texas that cemented Republican control of the state's congressional delegation.
The map splits Travis County among U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio; Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio; and Michael McCaul, R-Austin.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/15map.html