Arlington would have its own new congressional district under plan Politics Guide

May 31

Arlington would have its own new congressional district under plan

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday added congressional redistricting to the agenda of the special legislative session, just hours after key lawmakers unveiled a proposed redistricting plan that would make Arlington the dominant population base of a new congressional district.

With the proposed creation of the new district, Tarrant County would be divided among five Republican or Republican-leaning districts The plan appears to protect the four Republican incumbents who currently represent Tarrant County in Congress.

Democrats and minority leaders assailed the plan after it was unveiled by the chairmen of the Legislature’s two redistricting committees.

“It’s just a gut job on Tarrant County,” charged Matt Angle, a Democratic redistricting expert who has contended that Tarrant County should have a bipartisan representation in Congress to wield broader influence in Washington.

But the architects of the plan defended the proposal. “I believe this map is fair and legal, and will serve the people of Texas well for the next 10 years,” said Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting.

Seliger and his legislative counterpart, Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, jointly released the plan Tuesday, the opening day of a special session that Perry called to deal with unfinished business from the 82nd Legislature.

After the lawmakers unveiled the redistricting maps, Perry announced that he would expand the session’s agenda to include congressional redistricting, which stalled during the 140-day regular session that ended Monday.

Seliger has scheduled a hearing for Friday.

The proposed map redraws the 32 existing congressional districts in Texas and configures four new districts destined for Texas because the state’s nation-leading population growth over the past decade. Twenty-three members of the current delegation are Republicans.

One of the new districts would be located on the western side of the Metroplex, including Arlington and central and southwest portions of Tarrant County.

Although District 33 would also include all of Parker County and southeast Wise County, the lion’s share of the population – a half-million residents – would live in Tarrant. Seliger said the district would include all of Arlington.

Republican Rep. Joe Barton. who now represents more than half of Arlington, would no longer represent the city under the new plan. Barton has a home in Arlington, as well as in Ennis.

Barton filed a lawsuit asking a state court to handle the job of redistricting Texas after it became apparent that lawmakers could not complete congressional redistricting in the regular session.

In a statement Tuesday, Barton called the newly released map “a great starting point” and suggested that his lawsuit may no longer be necessary if the Legislature completes the job.

“I have always believed – and still do – that this process is better solved in the state Capitol and not in a courtroom,” he said.

Barton has been at odds with U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, the leader of the Texas delegation on redistricting, and over how many of the four new districts should be drawn with Hispanic majorities. Although both congressmen presented proposed plans to state lawmakers, Seliger said the map was drawn “generated here” by the legislative redistricting team.

“It’s our job,” Seliger said. “Not congressmen’s job.”

Barton’s district, as well as those of three other Republicans who currently represent Tarrant County, would be reconfigured under the plan, but all apparently would remain safe Republican districts. In addition to Barton, the other U.S. representatives whose districts include Tarrant County are Reps. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Michael Burgess of Lewisville and Kenny Marchant of Coppell.

District 33 would blend urban Tarrant County with rural and suburban voters in fast-growing Parker and Wise counties. More than 550,000 residents live in Tarrant, 116,900 live in Parker, and 23,200 live in Wise. Just over 51 percent of the residents are white. Blacks and Hispanics make up 43 percent of the population and Asians and other ethic groups constitute more than 6 percent.

The plan would also create new districts in the San Antonio-Austin corridor in central Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas and in Houston and adjacent portions of southeast Texas. The map calls for eight Hispanic-dominated districts, including the proposed new districts in central Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. It would also retain three predominately African-American districts.

The plan was besieged by criticism from Hispanics and African-American almost immediately after its release. Hispanic leaders said the new districts ignore the surge of Latino growth, which accounted for 65 percent of the state’s 4.5 million population increase over the past decade.

“It’s just regrettable that this Republican dominated Legislature has once again failed the people of Texas,” said Sergio De Leon of Fort Worth, precinct 5 constable. “They had an opportunity to enfranchise or empower people and what they have done instead is to minimize and dilute the Hispanic vote. It’s a shameful display of leadership.

De Leon and other local Hispanic leaders, who testified at a legislative hearing on congressional redistricting, had proposed a heavily Hispanic district that would stretched from western Dallas County to east and north Fort Worth. “It would have been the responsible thing to do,” said De Leon. “I can assure you that the Obama Justice Department will not rubberstamp this soon-to-be-passed plan by the Texas Legislature.”

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, called the proposal “the very definition of an unfair and illegal congressional plan” and a “slap in the face of minority voters responsible for 90 percent of Texas growth in the last decade.”

Veasey has proposed a congressional redistricting map designed to recognize minority growth by drawing 13 predominately districts. Under a 2003 redistricting plan, Veasey’s legislative district was redrawn into Burgess’ predominately Republican district, a move that Veasey said eroded the influence of his minority constituents in congressional elections.

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