Texas' two new congressional districts added to Houston and Austin in proposed redistricting map

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Texas Tribune

Texas lawmakers on Monday released their first draft of a new congressional map for the next decade that includes two new districts in Austin and Houston — metropolitan areas with diverse populations that fueled much of the state's population growth over the past 10 years.

Republicans constructed this map with incumbent protection in mind — a strategy that focused on bolstering Republican seats that Democrats targeted over the last two election cycles rather than aggressively adding new seats that could flip from blue to red. However, the map does in fact strengthen Republican positioning overall, going from 22 to 25 districts that voted for Donald Trump in 2020. The number of districts that voted for Joe Biden would shrink by one, from 14 to 13.

Texas members of the House GOP delegation were closely involved in the drawing process and approved the map last week, according to two sources close to the Texas delegation.

While many incumbents appear safe in these maps, others were drawn into districts that overlap with one another — for example, the proposed map pits Houston Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw against Democrat Rep. Sylvia Garcia. It also pits two Houston Democrats — Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee — against each other.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/24/texas-congressional-redistricting/

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ARTICLE BY BY JAMES BARRAGÁN, ABBY LIVINGSTON AND CARLA ASTUDILLO

District viewer map for proposed districts: https://dvr.capitol.texas.gov/Congress/14/PLANC2101

District viewer map for current districts: https://dvr.capitol.texas.gov/Congress/0/PLANC2100

Click on each district for demographic information and incumbent.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. If this map is enacted, Texas will be sued.

Link to tweet

[TexasTowelie]

3. It looks like the 15th District where I was raised will be the only competitive district

which is bad news for Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. I'm not surprised that he was targeted since he barely scraped by in the last election. It's a ridiculously long and narrow district stretching from the Valley to east of San Antonio and there really aren't any common interests among the southern, central, and northern counties. The district doesn't include any major media markets either.

It looks like the 28th District has had a few shifts that are more favorable to Cuellar than to Cisneros for the Democratic primary.

[LudwigPastorius]

12. "If this map is enacted, Texas will be sued."

...and the GOPSCOTUS will rubber stamp it.

You know it's coming.

[gab13by13]

2. Marc Elias is a saint,

but banking on just him to save our democracy is a bad strategy. Just what Texas is doing gerrymandering can win back the House. Many many more GQP controlled states are going to do the same thing.

Explain to me how a GOTV strategy will defeat this?

[TexasTowelie]

4. It looks like the GOP can gain at three to four districts based upon the map.

That is enough to flip the House and we would have Speaker McCarthy.

[gab13by13]

5. Maybe not,

Maybe Speaker MTG.

[TexasTowelie]

6. How dare you suggest her.

What did I do to you?

I'm joking with you, of course.

[forthemiddle]

7. But aren't California and New York adding Dems

Won’t that offset any possible gain?
I read New York and California were redrawing their maps to lose Republicans. Am I wrong about that?

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. That's what I hear about NY anyway, as many as 5 n/t

[TexasTowelie]

10. I was talking within the Texas delegation.

Currently the Texas delegation is 22 Republicans and 14 Democrats. Based upon the proposed map, it looks like it will switch to 25 Republicans and 13 Democrats. So the Republicans secured all of their districts and left one district (the 15th district in South Texas represented by a Democrat) as too close to call. So even though the new districts appear in Austin and Houston, the voters were shifted to secure GOP positions in other counties. All of that results in a net gain of three congressional seats for the GOP.

[Elessar Zappa]

8. So if not GOTV, then what?

Just give up? No thank you.

[riversedge]

11. "It also pits two Houston Democrats -- Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee -- against each other."

geez. how can this be ??



.......It also pits two Houston Democrats — Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee — against each other.

[LudwigPastorius]

13. Boundaries were probably redrawn so that they now live in the same district.

Fortunately, the residency requirements of Texas representatives are notoriously difficult to enforce. Lawsuits alleging that a Rep. doesn't actually live in the district they are representing are rarely won.

[riversedge]

14. drawing the map to pit a Dem against a Dem. damn

[LeftInTX]

15. Democrats did not draw this map!

[pfitz59]

16. Gerrymandering at its worse...

Really ugly and obscene districts