US House Redistricting: Texas

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Chopping up Austin won't get DoJ preclearance and would likely fail in court anyway just like the old border district from DeLay that was shot down.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I started out on the premise that an 18-18 Texas oughtn't to be hard if you ignore Blacks' VRA rights, but I got greedy. Guess it's no coincidence that I share a (real life) first name with one former Congressman Frost.

Martin is a name used in Germany? I thought it was French.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I started out on the premise that an 18-18 Texas oughtn't to be hard if you ignore Blacks' VRA rights, but I got greedy. Guess it's no coincidence that I share a (real life) first name with one former Congressman Frost.

Martin is a name used in Germany?

Ever heard of Luther?

Hmmmm, I don't think or remember things well immediately after waking up.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So even this supposed uber-gerrymander creates a new Hispanic majority seat? Not that I'm surprised though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I mean I kind of figured that, but it results in the new seats being 3-1 GOP, which is only a +2. Then again shoring up Farenthold and making a Rodriguez comeback impossible might count as two more seats.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Wow Auburn has an ugly shape. It looks like a hideously gerrymandered congressional district. So Georgia is full of a sprawly mess and lets it get shaped ugly too.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Any map that means Green could possibly lose won't get preclearance, and would probably be found illegal in court.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That 36th district is the most vile abomination I have seen so far.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Fun fact: Every single Hispanic Republican lives in a Democratic district. Every single one. This is due to the fact that all Hispanics live in Hispanic-majority Democratic districts. Every single Hispanic in the country. Very interesting, huh?

If Texas had 18 Hispanic districts yet still voted the same way it does now, there WOULD be Republicans elected in some of those Hispanic seats. You can already draw a Hispanic majority seat where a Republican would win. When I was drawing LDs in Washington I figured out that it was easy to draw Hispanic-majority LDs won by Rossi, but impossible to draw any won by Murray. I doubt Hispanics make up anywhere near the majority of voters in those Rossi LDs though. The issue is SPECIFICALLY diluting the Hispanic vote into districts backed by white suburbanites. Hispanics in districts like Gene Green's obviously aren't voting 40% for Republicans either.

But it's moot because it's pretty obvious that even the Texas Republicans get this.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

At least until the inevitable court challenge.

...assuming the DOJ even approves it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So if the primary is held under the interim map, that means the general would have to be as well. But I guess that won't stop Texas Republicans from another mid-decade redistricting. Of course in Colorado there was a court-drawn map, the Republicans later tried to pass their own map, but it was ruled illegal by a court and that the current map had to stand.