With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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The GOP is losing its hold on suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth as they grow more diverse. Two proposed districts show how far the party is reaching to entrench rural, white electoral power.

The intensity with which Texas Republicans are struggling against demographic tides as they redraw the state's congressional districts can best be seen in their proposed maps for the Dallas-Fort Worth region, specifically its suburbs.

For decades, suburban communities offered the GOP solid political ground. But census figures demonstrate the state is growing away from Republicans, with nearly all of its population gains coming within communities of color more likely to support Democrats.

That shift has reached the suburbs. In a bid to hold the political turf, Republicans are zeroing in on communities with high shares of potential voters of color and grafting them onto massive districts dominated by white voters.

That sort of surgical targeting is strikingly captured by the proposed changes to the 33rd and 6th congressional districts, which will diminish the influence Hispanic voters have in choosing their representatives in Congress. The proposed maps have already cleared the Senate and await a vote in the House.

A significant portion of the Hispanic voting age population in the suburban cities between Dallas and Fort Worth is currently in TX-33, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey. The district stretches from Fort Worth in Tarrant County, across suburban communities like Arlington and Grand Prairie and into Irving’s heavily Hispanic neighborhoods on the west side of Dallas County.

Despite its odd shape, TX-33 was actually drawn by a three-judge federal panel a decade ago to protect the voting rights of people of color in the area. That panel devised a district in which Hispanics made up the largest demographic group, but it offered Hispanic or Black voters an equal chance to elect their preferred candidate. Veasey won that job.

A decade later, Hispanics make up a large majority of the district’s voting age population and are just shy of the majority of eligible voters, which includes citizens only. But under the Republicans’ proposed map, many of those voters would be sunk into a starkly different political reality.

Republicans reconfigured part of TX-33 to shore up another neighboring GOP district, but that left behind Hispanic areas around Irving. They looked south and saw a swath of rural, mostly white counties. To connect them, they extended a bizarre finger northward into Dallas County, picked off the Democratic-leaning areas and melded them into a different district — TX-6 .

The current TX-6 includes just three counties — all of Navarro and Ellis counties and a diverse portion of southeast Tarrant County. Though it was drawn as a solid GOP district, it has seen thinner Republican margins of victory in recent elections; former President Donald Trump won just 53% of the vote in 2020.

In a bid to shore up TX-6, giving it a hypothetical 20-point margin of victory for Trump, the Republicans’ proposal to revamp the district significantly stretches its footprint — including six more counties to the south and east.

That engineering would boost white voters’ control of the district while stranding Hispanic voters who in the past were concentrated enough to influence election outcomes.

The manipulation at the expense of voters of color is not limited to these districts. Throughout the North Texas region, diverse neighborhoods are shifted into sprawling districts that stretch into more rural areas with majority white electorates.

The demographic change map-drawers are contending with has transformed the area so forcefully over the last decade that their proposals even carve up neighborhoods densely populated with Asian Texans, whose small but growing numbers were beginning to translate into electoral influence.

Though they make up just a sliver of the state’s total population, Asian Texans have seen the most rapid growth over the last decade compared to other demographic groups. They’ve made particular headway in areas like Collin County, one of the fastest-growing in the state, where they contributed significantly to the county’s population gains.

A large concentration of the Asian voting age population in Collin County is currently contained in the 3rd Congressional District and represented by U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, a Republican. The suburban district skewed so heavily for the GOP that Taylor’s predecessor ran without a Democratic challenger in 2012 and 2014.

But the Republican margin of victory narrowed significantly in recent elections. Taylor won reelection with just 55% of the vote; Trump won the district by just 1 percentage point.

In response, Republicans are proposing a complete reconfiguration of the district, almost surgically sketching lines around neighborhoods densely populated by potential Asian voters.

Under Republicans’ proposed map, many of those Asian residents would now reside in the new 4th Congressional District, which used to contain just a small share of Collin County’s population. In reaching in to pick up their neighborhoods, TX-4 grows its total Asian population from roughly 15,000 in its previous configuration to nearly 103,000.

But Asian voters will see the strength of their votes diminished in a district in which white residents will make up a whopping 73.9% of eligible voters.

In the current TX-3, the share of Asian eligible voters had reached 10.8%.

The new maps would cut it roughly in half to 5.6%.
The article link shows the maps.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/15 ... ort-worth/

A prime example of how the Rethugs are Gerrymandering the districts for both the state and federal legislative offices, so they can maintain control of the state and help control the US House of Representatives. Can we bet the the other red states are doing the same thing. I also can bet that a lawsuit will be filed in federal court, over these maps
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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Texas got two new seats in the 2020 census and want as many safe Republican House seats as they can get. If Democrats controlled the Texas legislature they'd do the same thing, it's only gerrymandering if the other party does it. I like independently election commissions to redrawn district lines. I anticipate more fighting ahead as incumbents complain about their new districts.

Image

That 15th District is a real gerrymander, it snakes from the border all the way north.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politi ... 490910.php

State House and state Senate districts also need to be redrawn based on the 2020 census, another fight if it's not already done.
Last edited by highdesert on Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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lurker wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:41 pm has anyone ever asked mexico if they'd like to have texas back?
to quote Mexico, It will be a cold day in hell before we want that to happen. Also Keep Señor Cruz on your side of the border. :sarcasm:
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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That 15th District is a real gerrymander, it snakes from the border all the way north.
Notice how it wraps around San Antonio avoiding the Hispanic populations areas.

We have the same issues here in the North Texas area where they divide up the POC areas and include them with the rural and heavy populated areas of white conservative Repug voters.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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highdesert wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:39 pm Texas got two new seats in the 2020 census and want as many safe Republican House seats as they can get. If Democrats controlled the Texas legislature they'd do the same thing, it's only gerrymandering if the other party does it. I like independently election commissions to redrawn district lines. I anticipate more fighting ahead as incumbents complain about their new districts.

Image

That 15th District is a real gerrymander, it snakes from the border all the way north.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politi ... 490910.php

State House and state Senate districts also need to be redrawn based on the 2020 census, another fight if it's not already done.
Texas dems should have thought a bit more about the 2019 election before fielding all the bloomie backed candidates. Election policies and agenda have consequences.
Image
Image

"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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sikacz wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:00 pm
highdesert wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:39 pm Texas got two new seats in the 2020 census and want as many safe Republican House seats as they can get. If Democrats controlled the Texas legislature they'd do the same thing, it's only gerrymandering if the other party does it. I like independently election commissions to redrawn district lines. I anticipate more fighting ahead as incumbents complain about their new districts.

Image

That 15th District is a real gerrymander, it snakes from the border all the way north.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politi ... 490910.php

State House and state Senate districts also need to be redrawn based on the 2020 census, another fight if it's not already done.
Texas dems should have thought a bit more about the 2019 election before fielding all the bloomie backed candidates. Election policies and agenda have consequences.
Yes, they may have survived 2020, but 2022 is a new game with new districts.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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highdesert wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:15 pm
sikacz wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:00 pm
highdesert wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:39 pm Texas got two new seats in the 2020 census and want as many safe Republican House seats as they can get. If Democrats controlled the Texas legislature they'd do the same thing, it's only gerrymandering if the other party does it. I like independently election commissions to redrawn district lines. I anticipate more fighting ahead as incumbents complain about their new districts.

Image

That 15th District is a real gerrymander, it snakes from the border all the way north.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politi ... 490910.php

State House and state Senate districts also need to be redrawn based on the 2020 census, another fight if it's not already done.
Texas dems should have thought a bit more about the 2019 election before fielding all the bloomie backed candidates. Election policies and agenda have consequences.
Yes, they may have survived 2020, but 2022 is a new game with new districts.
Shortsighted strategic planning, it’s a dem weakness.
Image
Image

"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:16 pm
lurker wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:41 pm has anyone ever asked mexico if they'd like to have texas back?
to quote Mexico, It will be a cold day in hell before we want that to happen. Also Keep Señor Cruz on your side of the border. :sarcasm:
Mexico would have to pay for a MUCH bigger wall to go all around Texas! :sarcasm:
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: With surgical precision, Republicans draw two congressional districts that dilute power of Hispanic and Asian voters

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Texas Lawmakers Pass New Congressional Maps Bolstering GOP

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans approved on Monday redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and decrease political representation for growing minority communities, even as Latinos drive much of the growth in the nation’s largest red state.

The maps were approved following outcry from Democrats over what they claimed was a rushed redistricting process crammed into a 30-day session, and one which gave little time for public input. They also denounced the reduction of minority opportunity districts ― Texas will now have seven House districts where Latino residents hold a majority, down from eight ― despite the state’s changing demographics.

“What we are doing in passing this congressional map is a disservice to the people of Texas,” Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia said to the chamber just before the final vote.

GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign off on the changes. Civil rights groups sued before Republican lawmakers were even done Monday.

“Texas is using all the means at its disposal to prevent the inevitable change in the Texas electorate,” said Nina Perales, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Her organization filed the lawsuit along with several other minority rights groups in federal court in Texas. It alleges that Republican mapmakers diluted the political strength of minority voters by not drawing any new districts where Latino residents hold a majority, despite Latinos making up half of Texas’ 4 million new residents over the last decade.

Abbott’s office did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Republicans have said they followed the law in defending the maps, which protect their slipping grip on Texas by pulling more GOP-leaning voters into suburban districts where Democrats have made inroads in recent years.

Texas has been routinely dragged into court for decades over voting maps, and in 2017, a federal court found that a Republican-drawn map was drawn to intentionally discriminate against minority voters. But two years later, that same court said there was insufficient reason to take the extraordinary step of putting Texas back under federal supervision before changing voting laws or maps.

The maps that overhaul how Texas’ nearly 30 million residents are sorted into political districts — and who is elected to represent them — bookends a highly charged year in the state over voting rights. Democratic lawmakers twice walked out on an elections bill that tightened the state’s already strict voting rules, which they called a brazen attempt to disenfranchise minorities and other Democratic-leaning voters.

The plan does not create any additional districts where Black or Hispanic voters make up more than 50% of the voting population, even as people of color accounted for more than 9 of 10 new residents in Texas over the past decade.

Republican state Sen. Joan Huffman, who authored the maps and leads the Senate Redistricting Committee, told fellow lawmakers that they were “drawn blind to race.” She said her legal team ensured the plan followed the Voting Rights Act.

The Texas GOP control both chambers of the Legislature, giving them nearly complete control of the mapmaking process. The state has had to defend their maps in court after every redistricting process since the Voting Rights Act took effect in 1965, but this will be the first since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling said Texas and other states with a history of racial discrimination no longer need to have the Justice Department scrutinize the maps before they are approved.

However, drawing maps to engineer a political advantage is not unconstitutional. The proposal would also make an estimated two dozen of the state’s 38 congressional districts safe Republican districts, with an opportunity to pick up at least one additional newly redrawn Democratic stronghold on the border with Mexico, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of data from last year’s election collected by the Texas Legislative Council. Currently, Republicans hold 23 of the state’s 36 seats.

Following negotiations between Texas House members and state senators, the districts of Houston area districts of U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who is serving her 14th term, and U.S. Rep Al Green, a neighboring Democrat, were restore, unpairing the two and drawing Jackson Lee’s home back into her district.

Texas lawmakers also approved redrawn maps for their own districts, with Republicans following a similar plan that does not increase minority opportunity districts and would keep their party in power in the state House and Senate.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-co ... b245c136fe

The Repugs will say they helped the Dems and minorities by unpairing the districts of U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who is serving her 14th term, and U.S. Rep Al Green, a neighboring Democrat. Where earlier maps would have left Rep. Lee home outside her district.

With the Federal Courts swinging hard to the Right with TOT appointees it may be hard to get the courts to agree the Texas redistricting in racially motivated to protect the white vote.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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