The racially gerrymandered maps fail to reflect Texas’ diversity and population growth.
If Republicans’ goal was to diminish all Texan’s voices, they achieved it when they passed the racially gerrymandered maps out of the House with an 83-63 vote. We’re clipping all of the nitty-gritty moments, which you’ll be able to find today and tomorrow on both our Facebook and YouTube.
House Democrats fought tooth and nail for Texans to have fair representation. Even though people of color drove 95% of population growth in Texas, Republicans found creative ways to minimize minority voices and protect GOP seats. Or so they think.
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Here is the breakdown of the new racially gerrymandered maps in comparison with Texas demographics.
| Race | % of the Population | % of control of the maps |
|---|---|---|
| Anglo | 40% | 59% |
| Hispanic | 39% | 20% |
| Black | 12% | 2.7% |
Racially gerrymandered maps will hurt Texans for a decade.
It’s much more than just a partisan battle. When non-Hispanic whites have control of the Texas legislature, as they have for the last 20 years, our legislature would heavily be Republican. That means Texas would continue to lead the country in uninsured, our public education would continue to be underfunded, and it would give us ten more years of the Republican’s ridiculous culture wars.
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The only way that Republicans can win in Texas is by cheating, drawing the maps unfairly, and suppressing the vote. They know it. That’s why this year they have pushed so hard to make sure Black and brown Texans don’t have a voice at the polls.
At this point, Republicans will likely never win a state-wide election again in Texas. Their only hope is to hang on to the legislature, and even if these maps survive and become our districts in 2022, there is no guarantee that Republicans can still hold on to the majority.
What will happen?
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Senators Eckhardt and Gutierrez, along with Tejano Democrats, filed a lawsuit highlighting how this redistricting violates the Texas Constitution, which says that redistricting must be done in the first regular session after the census is released. This means we would keep the maps until the 2023 regular session, and then they would be redrawn. There is a hearing for this lawsuit on 10/28.
Aside from that, once these maps are passed through the legislature and Abbott signs them into law, expect to see dozens of lawsuits filed by political and civil rights groups.
Then, voting rights legislation is still hanging in the US Senate. Part of the Senate voting rights bill addresses racial gerrymandering and restores sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Stay tuned.
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