Texas Republican state lawmakers continue to push a plan to redraw the state’s congressional map – with the aim of picking up five seats for the GOP as sought by President Donald Trump – even as Democratic state lawmakers remain out of state to prevent the Texas House from having the necessary quorum to hold a vote.
One of the main Democratic arguments against the proposed map is that it is not merely a partisan gerrymander but that it explicitly discriminates on the basis of race. A senior Democratic lawmaker has run a detailed analysis of the map that supports that contention.
Republican lawmakers and local officials claim they are creating more Latino opportunity congressional districts. In a recent statement, Harris County Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel pointed to the proposed Congressional District 9, which would break up the majority-Latino Congressional District 29, represented by U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), and pair portions of eastern Harris County now in her district with portions of CD 2, represented by U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Houston), and CD 36, represented by U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Woodville).
“A new District 9 would be drawn to create a Hispanic-majority district,” Siegel said. “This reflects the growing Hispanic electorate in Harris County — many of whom voted Republican last November. In total, 5 out of 8 Harris County congressional districts would have non-Anglo majorities, increasing minority representation across the board.”
State Rep. Vince Perez (D-El Paso), the House Democrats’ deputy whip, disputes the Republican argument. He noted there are about 11 million white residents in Texas. Latino residents passed that number within the last few years. Yet congressional districts where whites can elect their candidates of choice far outnumber those where Latinos and/or Blacks can do likewise.
“If I’m telling you that there’s 26 seats and there are 11 million white residents, that breaks down to 430,000 white residents per congressional seat,” Perez said. “So, what does it take for Latinos? Well, there’s one congressional seat for every 1.2 million Latinos, and there’s one Black seat for every 2 million Black voters. That’s why the value of a Latino resident in Texas is one-third of the political power of that that a white resident in Texas delivers, and again, for Black residents in Texas, it’s one-fifth.”
By Perez’s analysis, the proposed map would help Republicans to elect representatives on behalf of 90% of all white voters in the state of Texas.
“We have never seen a map so racially discriminatory in Texas since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965,” Perez said. “What will be the implications of a government not being held accountable to all of its residents but almost exclusively to one race?”
As an example of how effectively the software-designed proposed map would help Republicans to achieve this aim, Perez pointed to Texas’ 28th Congressional District, which stretches south into the Rio Grande Valley and has long been represented by conservative Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar. Perez said the new map would swap out Latino citizens from Cuellar’s district and exchange them with non-citizen Latino residents, who cannot legally vote, as well as a number of white residents.
“So, it almost looks like a one for one. It looks like there was just no change in the Latino population,” Perez said. “So, what appears to be a Latino district in Laredo is, in reality, one that will be controlled by white voters in the state of Texas. That is the sleight of hand that Republicans are doing. I think it’s also indicative that Republicans are ushering in the AI era of racism.”
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