Texas Redistricting

As we explain in our chapter on elections and campaigns, partisan politics often drives the drawing of lines for congressional and legislative seats. Texas is a case in point, as the San Antonio Express-News explains:

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has “made it clear that he wants a map that reflects recent voting trends in Texas, that provides fair and effective representation for Texas in the coming decade and complies with all state and federal laws,” said spokesman Mike Walz.

Democrats still are smarting from the redistricting plan engineered in 2003 by then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. The plan was adopted, for the first time, without the benefit of a new census or the threat of a court order. Although DeLay had no official role in the process, he and his allies in the Texas House went to work drawing a congressional map that targeted every Democrat in Congress. They were spectacularly successful.

Two things are different this time.

“DeLay had the muscle to make it happen, but there's no DeLay around this time, and Dewhurst, because he's running for the Senate, doesn't want to make any enemies,” said political scientist Richard Murray of the University of Houston.

The second difference is a Justice Department run by a Democratic administration. Any redistricting plan the legislature draws must adhere to federal rules, most importantly voting rights rules. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act says minority areas can't be diluted. Democrats complain that political appointees in the Bush Justice Department ignored those rules when they approved the DeLay-driven redistricting plan.

“We don't need them (the Justice Department) to put the thumb on the scale to our advantage,” Democratic consultant Matt Angle said. “We just need them to be fair.”

Henry Flores, professor of political science and dean of the graduate school at St. Mary's University, pointed out the strength of the GOP.

“The Republicans now have supermajority, so they don't really have to negotiate with anybody on any plans. The Democrats are in the bleachers. They can leave the state if they want to, but that's OK, nobody's going to miss them.”

“Because a lot of the growth was driven by Hispanic areas, the way they rearrange the district lines is going to be very difficult. The new hybrid's going to be the Hispanic-Republican district. Then what you have to worry about is: Will those new district pass muster in the U.S. Department of Justice?”