Behold. This dropped on Saturday afternoon while normal people were running errands or watching college football, so commentary and coverage is limited at this time. Here’s one view:
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Some pretty drastic reconfigurations of state senate districts in Dallas and Tarrant counties, especially the 10th district, which would run into Johnson and Parker counties (currently just in Tarrant). #txlege 2/— Michael Li (@mcpli) 2:57 PM – 18 September 2021
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Meanwhile Dallas suburbs currently in the 16th senate district (which is currently wholly contained in Dallas County) are joined instead with parts of Denton and Wise (!) counties. #txlege 4/— Michael Li (@mcpli) 3:14 PM – 18 September 2021
Other data is here. I don’t see past election results, but it’s clear at a glance that SD10 would become Republican. As for the rest, and for other maps, we’ll have to see. Even with more sophisticated technology, the first map is never the final map, so expect to see some variations soon. Thanks to Reform Austin for the heads up.
UPDATE: Here’s coverage from the Trib. Sen. Powell, who is clearly targeted by this map, is not happy about it.
State Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, immediately called foul on the initial draft of the map, which was authored by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, who chairs the Senate Redistricting Committee.
“The proposed State Senate map is a direct assault on the voting rights of minority citizens in Senate District 10 and, if adopted, it would be an act of intentional discrimination,” she said in a statement. “The 2020 census revealed the population of Senate District 10 is nearly ideal. There is no need to make any changes to district lines. Moreover, since 2010, the minority population percentage within the district increased dramatically while the Anglo percentage has dropped. The changes now proposed are intended to silence and destroy the established and growing voting strength of minority voters in Tarrant County.”
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Since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Texas has not made it through a single decade without a federal court admonishing it for violating federal protections for voters of color.
“The release of the proposed map is only the beginning of the fight. I’m proud to be the candidate of choice of minority citizens in Senate District 10 and will do everything within my power to stop this direct, discriminatory, and illegal attack on their voting rights,” Powell said.
She has a point, and then-Sen. Wendy Davis was able to negotiate a settlement last decade that took the Senate map out of the litigation. I just don’t expect her to get much reception from the courts.
The good news from this map is that we here in Bellaire will no longer have Joan of Dark as our senator
It’s good to be the chair. SD17 is even more gerrymandered than before in this map.
Taking white suburbs out of Dist. 16 is done primarily to benefit whatever GOP wins the primary to succeed Jane “I Lied about Term Limits (and many other things)” Nelson in Dist. 12. Look back at her last two races, esp. the last one. I wrote a newspaper column bout this, this summer, noting that Dist. 10, Dist. 12 and, if possible but a distant third, Angela Paxton’s Dist. 8 would all be targets of redistricting help. She’s getting some help by being moved more into exurban areas, with rejiggering to the east of nutbar Bob Hall’s Dist. 2 and other things. Springer’s Dist. 30 is “safe,” so the GOP can borrow from it as needed. I’ll spell out more details on my blog.
FROM TABULA RASA TO HABEMUS MAPPAM SENATUM
That’s cute, Michael Li.
Gaudeamus igitur!
Cross reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habemus_papam (-am = accusative)
Stinks what is happening to SD10, but I’m glad to live in the White Rock lake area of Dallas and not have a state Senator from Hunt or VanZandt county for the first time in 10 years.
GOP playing a foolish game in DFW. Might bite them back around 2028 in SD8, SD9, maybe SD12.
Looks like Flores could return to the Senate in SD24 and Jonathan Stickland could run for the new SD10.
What is the partisan composition of the new SD 15, which would now include West U and Bellaire?
Stickland is the sort of Republican who could lose SD10, even as redrawn, in a general election.
Mainstream – No election data yet for the proposed districts. All the data is here:
https://data.capitol.texas.gov/dataset/plans2101
SD15 is 67.9% non-Anglo by VAP.
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