Texas’ Redistricting Plan: A Showcase of Republican Stupidity and Democratic Cowardice
The current state of affairs: the Trump-Led Republican Party Continues to Reject Latinos, But Expects Them to Vote Red. Makes sense, right? Within the last week, Republican Texas legislators released designs for new congressional maps in the Lone Star State. This move followed Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Special Session Agenda announcement. Sandwiched neatly between actually pressing items such as flood warning systems and natural disaster preparation, Governor Abbott sneakily hid the biggest agenda item: “REDISTRICTING: Legislation that provides a revised congressional redistricting plan in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.” (Quick digression: this special session is supposed to help Texas grieve and rebuild following such tragic flooding. But Abbott and Texas’ Republicans have another goal in mind: building back red.) The new redistricting plans couldn’t be more clear: change the map and make GOP gains. After all, Texas Republicans hope to gain five U.S. House seats with the new map. So how does this affect Latinos? Well, Latinos appear to be the target, as four of the five drawn up districts are majority Hispanic. The new map–focused on Austin, Dallas, and Houston–brings “more white, Hispanic and Black majority districts,” according to The Texas Tribune’s analysis.