US Supreme Court Refuses Review Of GOP Redistricting

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal by Black and Hispanic voters accusing the Republican-led Texas legislature of intentionally redrawing a state Senate district to diminish their political clout, part of broader challenge to congressional and state legislative maps in the state.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Supreme Court Hears Redistricting Bias Case

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Texas Supreme Court justices have heard arguments a challenge to Congressional maps drawn up after the 2020 U.S. Census.

The Mexican American Legislative Caucus mounted the legal challenge claiming state lawmakers diluted the vote of communities of color despite those communities accounting for the state's population growth, which in turn resulted in Texas gaining two congressional districts.

(Full story HERE.)
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Republican State Senator Says GOP Redistricting Maps Discriminate

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State Sen. Kel Seliger (R - swore in federal court that he believes his GOP colleagues violated federal voting laws when redrawing a state Senate seat in North Texas.

Seliger’s sworn statement was submitted as part of a lawsuit seeking to throw out the new boundaries for Senate District 10, the Fort Worth seat represented by Democratic state Sen. Beverly Powell. 

Democrats and civil rights groups argue that the changes were calculated to discriminate against voters of color, shifting Black and Latino Texans across several districts to dilute their political impact.

Republicans counter that many of the maps do indeed favor Republicans, but are not designed to discriminate against people of color or minorities.

Seliger is not seeking re-election to his seat in 2022, He has held the seat since 2004.

(Full story HERE.)
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Redistricting Maps Signed Into Law, But Democrats Ready Lawsuits

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday approved Texas’ new political maps for the state’s congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts, according to Texas Legislature Online.

The maps were drawn to be favorable to Republican candidates across the state. Democrats are already lining up to challenge the maps in court. If they manage to delay the implementation of the maps pass November 15th, the March 2022 primary election could be delayed until May or later.

(Full story here.)
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Democratic State Rep. Moving To Austin After Redistricting

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Vowing not to be kept off the state House floor by Republican redistricting plans, State Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, announced Wednesday he is moving to run for reelection in a different House district because his current district is being redrawn to be more favorable to Republicans.

Talarico said he would run in nearby House District 50, where the Democratic incumbent, Celia Israel, is not seeking reelection as she prepares to run for Austin mayor. 

He announced the new campaign with the support of the biggest names in Democratic politics in Texas, including Beto O'Rourke, Wendy Davis and Joaquin Castro.

Talarico, who earlier this year fled to Washington with other Democrats to prevent a quorum in the state House of Representatives, would likely have faced a very difficult race in district 52, which lies in conservative Williamson County. There is already a contested primary on the Republican side of that race, with both candidates campaigning heavily against the young liberal Democrat, whom they say is politically out of touch with the district.

(Full story here.)
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Troxclair Drops State Senate Bid After Redistricting Map Released

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Former Austin City Council Member Ellen Troxclair is running for the Texas House in a proposed conservative-leaning district that includes western Travis County.

Troxclair had been campaigning for a seat in the Texas Senate. However, she was drawn out of the district represented by Lakeway Republican Sen. Dawn Buckingham in a proposed new map unveiled by GOP lawmakers last month as part of the once-a-decade process of redrawing political districts using new census data.

(Full story here.)
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2020 Census Means #Texas Will Get Two More Seats In Congres

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Texas will continue to see its political clout grow as it gains two additional congressional seats — the most of any state in the nation — following the 2020 census, the U.S. Census Bureau has announced.

Thanks to its fast-growing population — largely due to an increase in residents of color, particularly Hispanics — the state’s share of votes in the U.S. House of Representatives will increase to 38 for the next decade. 

(Full story here.)
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Legislators Murmuring About US Census Delay Causing Redistricting Special Session

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Call this one "analysis" on this blog's part, informed by confidential sources that we are going to call "Armadillos."

The Texas state legislature was already pressed for time, given that they meet only once every two years, and legislators are handling well over 1,500 pieces of legislation as well as a multi-billion-dollar budget. Legislators have also been sent home early already due to the risk of exposure to covid-19.

But this year, the year after a US Census, they also are tasked with the often complicated, highly political task of redistricting the state.

With a heavy workload as well as delayed data from the US Census Department in Washington, legislators are already murmuring about a special session being  this summer.

Here's why:

In early December, the Census Bureau reported to Congress that it had discovered some processing anomalies, causing delays in reporting the census results to Congress at the end of the year, as was expected.

Details on the anomalies have not been publicly released, but the bureau says it is working to resolve the issues, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. While the bureau has not officially announced any data delays, news reports indicate that additional time to process the census data will be needed, perhaps as late as mid-February.

In all states, a delay in the release of data would compress legislator's timeline for redistricting, says the legislative Association.

In Texas, it was already going to be tight scheduling redistricting, which would come late in the 140-day, once-in-two-years session, which began less than two weeks ago.

We have been unable to confirm thus far if a special session will be necessary, but given that serious delays from Washington are all but certain, we can deduce that Gov. Abbott will be compelled to call one.

State representatives and state senators would probably be well-advised to delay their vacations.

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