New interim maps for Texas

Postcards from the Lege blog AAS 2/28/12
San Antonio court releases redistricting map for U.S. House

A federal court in San Antonio has released redistricting maps for the U.S. House and Texas House.

The interim congressional map shows that Travis County will have five congressional districts up from the current three. One of them, District 35, will be anchored in Bexar County. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, is expected to run in District 35.

Doggett has said in the past that he would abandon his current Congressional District 25 if it ended up looking like the Republican district that was envisioned by the GOP-controlled Legislature last session.

District 35 was proposed originally by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to be a district in which Latinos could elect the candidate of their choosing.

Texas Tribune 2/28/12
Court Delivers Election Maps for Texas House, Congress

Now there are maps.

Federal judges in San Antonio unveiled maps for the state's congressional delegation and for the state House this afternoon, and they did it in time to allow the state to hold its delayed political primaries on May 29. The court also signed off on Senate plans agreed to earlier this month.

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Barring appeals, these maps will be used for the 2012 elections. Below are the new maps. We'll fill in details throughout the afternoon.

Lone Star Project
February 28, 2012
(703) 589-5509 - Fax (202) 547- 8258
Contact: Matt Angle


Court Releases Interim Redistricting Plans
Plan includes new North Texas minority opportunity congressional district, does not include Travis County-based district

Earlier today, the Federal District Court in San Antonio released the interim maps to be used for the 2012 elections in Texas. The court’s congressional map (Plan C235) appears to be nearly identical to a compromise plan agreed to by the Latino Task Force and Texas Republicans.

The interim plan is a victory for African American and Hispanic voters in North Texas. New District 33 is a coalition district that includes the core African American and Hispanic neighborhoods in Tarrant County and then extends east into Dallas County to include Hispanic neighborhoods in Oak Cliff and parts of Grand Prairie and Irving. The turnout in Democratic primaries favors Tarrant County. The new congressional district includes most of the State House District of Representative Marc Veasey. Veasey is expected to run for the seat and should be considered the early favorite.

Outside of North Texas, the interim plan does not reflect the population growth of Hispanics and African Americans in Texas.

While new District 35 is created and extends from Austin to San Antonio, it is offset by the dismantling of Travis County-based District 25 which is converted from a minority crossover district to a safe Anglo Republican District.

New District 34 based in Cameron County is offset by the loss of District 27 from a Latino opportunity district to a Anglo Republican-controlled District.

The Latino voting strength in San Antonio/West Texas District 23 is also reduced. However Democrats are fielding a very strong candidate in State Representative Pete Gallego, so he can likely win disproportionate support from some Anglo voters and defeat Republican incumbent Francisco Canseco.

Most of the plaintiff groups who challenged the Republican congressional plan hoped for a better interim map. These hopes were undermined, however, when Congressman Henry Cuellar and one of the Latino plaintiff groups – the Latino Task Force – agreed to a compromise proposal that gave up at least three, and perhaps all four, of the additional Texas seats to the Republicans.

Next month, the Federal District Court in Washington, DC is expected to release its decision detailing all of the violations in the State’s originally enacted redistricting plan. Ultimately, the DC Court’s decision will guide the redrawing of new maps when the Legislature meets again in 2013.

Here is a breakdown of the Districts under the Court’s plan where minority voters can elect their candidate of choice:

CD 9 – Al Green , Houston – African American Opportunity District
CD15 – Ruben Hinojosa, Hidalgo County – Hispanic Opportunity District
CD16 – Silvestre Reyes, El Paso – Hispanic Opportunity District
CD18 – Sheila Jackson Lee, Houston – African American Opportunity District
CD20 – Charlie Gonzalez, San Antonio – Hispanic Opportunity District
CD23 – Francisco Canseco, San Antonio/West Texas – Marginalized Hispanic Opportunity District*
CD28 – Henry Cuellar, Laredo – Hispanic Opportunity District
CD29 – Gene Green, Houston – Hispanic Opportunity District
CD30 – Eddie Bernice Johnson, Dallas – African American Opportunity District
CD33 – New Open, Fort Worth/Dallas – Minority Coalition District
CD34 – New Open, Cameron County – Hispanic Opportunity District
CD35 – New Open, Austin/San Antonio – Hispanic Opportunity District

*The Court’s interim plan reduces the Latino voting strength in CD23 below the level of the benchmark plan, but strong Democratic candidate Pete Gallego should be able to claim the district against Republican Francisco Canseco.

Comments by Lone Star Project Director Matt Angle:

The court’s map is good news for North Texas, especially Fort Worth. Tarrant County minority voters will finally have a chance to elect a responsible representative to Congress in new District 33.

The plan is not particularly good news for minority voters outside of North Texas. Minority voters in Austin, Corpus Christi and in San Antonio lost ground.

New District 33 in North Texas is the only real new minority opportunity district. Everywhere else in the State, the new minority districts simply replace existing districts where minority voters elect their candidate of choice.

Texas Redistricting blog 2/289/12

Parties tell D.C. court ruling is needed to correct interim maps

Intervenors in the preclearance case told the D.C. court this morning that the interim maps adopted by the San Antonio court “perpetuate[ed] many of the Section 5 violations identified” in the D.C. case and said the those defects “heighten[ed] the need for a ruling by this Court that denies preclearance” of both the congressional and state house maps.

They told the court that such a ruling would allow the San Antonio court to put in place “a more comprehensive remedy for violation of the voting rights of blacks and Hispanics throughout the state.”

The advisory was signed on behalf of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, NAACP, LULAC, the Davis intervenors, and the Gonzales (Travis County) intervenors.