Vey few counties, even counties in big cities, go democrat in Texas, and most of those counties are in south Texas. I don't think it's gerrymandering it's just the majority of Texans are not democrats or at least prefer republican government here.
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Vey few counties, even counties in big cities, go democrat in Texas, and most of those counties are in south Texas. I don't think it's gerrymandering it's just the majority of Texans are not democrats or at least prefer republican government here.
evince
Truthmatters
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10437083/...-redistricting-heads-high-court/#.WA5E94WcHIU
WASHINGTON *— The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress.
The 2003 boundaries helped Republicans win 21 of the state’s 32 seats in Congress in the last election— up from 15. They were approved amid a nasty battle between Republican leaders and Democrats and minority groups in Texas.
The contentiousness also reached Washington, where the Justice Department approved the plan although staff lawyers concluded that it diluted minority voting rights. Because of past discrimination against minority voters, Texas is required to get Justice Department approval for any voting changes to ensure they don’t undercut minority voting.
Justices will consider a constitutional challenge to the boundaries filed by various opponents. The court will hear two hours of arguments in four separate appeals. Lawyers have been told the case will be argued March 1, so the outcome could affect 2006 elections.
The legal battle at the Supreme Court was over the unusual timing of the Texas redistricting, among other things. Under the Constitution, states must adjust their congressional district lines every 10 years to account for population shifts.
WASHINGTON *— The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress.
The 2003 boundaries helped Republicans win 21 of the state’s 32 seats in Congress in the last election— up from 15. They were approved amid a nasty battle between Republican leaders and Democrats and minority groups in Texas.
The contentiousness also reached Washington, where the Justice Department approved the plan although staff lawyers concluded that it diluted minority voting rights. Because of past discrimination against minority voters, Texas is required to get Justice Department approval for any voting changes to ensure they don’t undercut minority voting.
Justices will consider a constitutional challenge to the boundaries filed by various opponents. The court will hear two hours of arguments in four separate appeals. Lawyers have been told the case will be argued March 1, so the outcome could affect 2006 elections.
The legal battle at the Supreme Court was over the unusual timing of the Texas redistricting, among other things. Under the Constitution, states must adjust their congressional district lines every 10 years to account for population shifts.
evince
Truthmatters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Texas_redistricting
The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan. In the 2004 elections, it resulted in the Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first time since Reconstruction. Opponents challenged the plan in three suits, combined when the case went to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry.
The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan. In the 2004 elections, it resulted in the Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first time since Reconstruction. Opponents challenged the plan in three suits, combined when the case went to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry.
evince
Truthmatters
I'm not going to make predictions or assumptions that I can't support but I'm just going by actually living here right now.
evince
Truthmatters
after fair districts are drawn
evince
Truthmatters
evince
Truthmatters
As of the 2010 US Census, the racial distribution in Texas was as follows: 70.4% of the population of Texas was White American; 11.8% African American; 3.8%, Asian American; 0.7%, American Indian; 0.1%, native Hawaiian or Pacific islander only; 10.5% of the population were of some other race only; and 2.7% were of two or more races. Hispanics (of any race) were 37.6% of the population of the state, while Non-Hispanic Whites composed 45.3%.
English Americans predominate in eastern, central, and northern Texas; German Americans, in central and western Texas. African Americans, who historically made up one-third of the state population, are concentrated in parts of eastern Texas as well as in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas.
English Americans predominate in eastern, central, and northern Texas; German Americans, in central and western Texas. African Americans, who historically made up one-third of the state population, are concentrated in parts of eastern Texas as well as in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas.
People still physically have to go vote and so if gerrymandering was an epidemic across Texas it would have to be on a massive scale and there would have to be a significant amount of democrat voters either not voting or in areas that are more populated with republican voters that still override them in numbers. There are areas of cities that lean democrat but it's still a minority of the population in most Texas cities and towns, and county wide republican leaning voters are more prevalent. Austin gets the most attention for it's more left leaning views but it's a blue city in a surrounding sea of red and there are a lot more people living in suburbs and rural areas in Texas than I think people really know.
evince
Truthmatters
Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first time since Reconstruction
That's also assuming all hispanics in texas lean or vote democratic. In south Texas they tend to but not in widespread numbers across the rest of the state. Just so you know I have Mexican blood in me, my biological mother was Mexican.
evince
Truthmatters
Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first time since Reconstruction
Ok well I think we are starting to go off the rails a little bit and so maybe it's best to just wait until after the election.
evince
Truthmatters
http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/...resented-in-local-politics-analysis-finds.ece
Texas Latinos underrepresented in local politics, analysis finds
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Published: 24 October 2016 05:36 AM
AUSTIN (AP) — A newspaper analysis has found deep patterns of underrepresentation of Texas’ fast-growing Hispanic population on city councils and county commissioners courts across the state.
The Austin American-Statesman reports that more than 1.3 million Hispanics in Texas live in cities or counties with no Hispanic representation on their city council or commissioners court. The disparities remain high even when accounting for noncitizens.
It’s an imbalance that’s especially acute at the highest levels of local government. In a state where Hispanics make up 38 percent of the population, only about 10 percent of Texas mayors and county judges are Hispanic.
In county government, Latino representation has largely stagnated during the past two decades. In 1994, Latinos made up 10 percent of county commissioner positions; today, the percentage has inched up to 13 percent — even though the state’s Hispanic population nearly doubled during that time.
Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, said that while some areas of the state — notably South Texas — have seen sharp rises in the number of Latinos elected to local office, the Statesman’s findings show “there is still disparity in your face” across Texas.
Statewide election experts and Hispanic officeholders in some of the state’s most underrepresented regions say the disparity defies easy explanation. They point out several factors: Texas laws that have made registering to vote more difficult; redistricting efforts designed to dilute Hispanic influence; and a virtual abandonment by statewide political parties. And even in districts with favorable demographics, Hispanics often turn out to vote in small numbers.
While the most glaring disparities are clustered in a largely rural swath of West Texas, through the High Plains region and into the Panhandle, the newspaper’s analysis found similar patterns across the state.
Medina County, just outside San Antonio, has a 50 percent Latino population but no Hispanic county commissioners. Odessa, where 63 percent of city residents are Hispanic, has just one Hispanic city council member. In Central Texas, while Hispanics in Guadalupe and Gonzales counties make up about a third of eligible voters, neither county has a Latino commissioner.
The most underrepresented areas also tend to be heavily Republican, which observers say also limits the participation of Texas Hispanics, who more often vote Democratic. In Medina County, County Judge Chris Schuchart said he believes the lack of Hispanic elected officials is more attributable to party than to ethnicity. “The county votes Republican, and … we generally have very few Democrats on the local ballot,” he said.
In Amarillo, Mercy Murguia was appointed in 2011 to fill an unexpired term on the Potter County Commissioners Court when she was 32. She has won re-election twice.
Since joining the Commissioners Court, she has sought to expand the Latino vote in the Panhandle. “We know apathy is a big reason — we’re not naive — but we also know that many Hispanics lack a basic understanding of where to vote, whether or not they’re registered and so forth.”
Murguia has also helped other Hispanics run for the school board. “The little things — just finding out how to run for school board, where to get the forms [to declare candidacy] — was difficult.”
Texas Latinos underrepresented in local politics, analysis finds
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Comments (0)
A Text Size
Published: 24 October 2016 05:36 AM
AUSTIN (AP) — A newspaper analysis has found deep patterns of underrepresentation of Texas’ fast-growing Hispanic population on city councils and county commissioners courts across the state.
The Austin American-Statesman reports that more than 1.3 million Hispanics in Texas live in cities or counties with no Hispanic representation on their city council or commissioners court. The disparities remain high even when accounting for noncitizens.
It’s an imbalance that’s especially acute at the highest levels of local government. In a state where Hispanics make up 38 percent of the population, only about 10 percent of Texas mayors and county judges are Hispanic.
In county government, Latino representation has largely stagnated during the past two decades. In 1994, Latinos made up 10 percent of county commissioner positions; today, the percentage has inched up to 13 percent — even though the state’s Hispanic population nearly doubled during that time.
Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, said that while some areas of the state — notably South Texas — have seen sharp rises in the number of Latinos elected to local office, the Statesman’s findings show “there is still disparity in your face” across Texas.
Statewide election experts and Hispanic officeholders in some of the state’s most underrepresented regions say the disparity defies easy explanation. They point out several factors: Texas laws that have made registering to vote more difficult; redistricting efforts designed to dilute Hispanic influence; and a virtual abandonment by statewide political parties. And even in districts with favorable demographics, Hispanics often turn out to vote in small numbers.
While the most glaring disparities are clustered in a largely rural swath of West Texas, through the High Plains region and into the Panhandle, the newspaper’s analysis found similar patterns across the state.
Medina County, just outside San Antonio, has a 50 percent Latino population but no Hispanic county commissioners. Odessa, where 63 percent of city residents are Hispanic, has just one Hispanic city council member. In Central Texas, while Hispanics in Guadalupe and Gonzales counties make up about a third of eligible voters, neither county has a Latino commissioner.
The most underrepresented areas also tend to be heavily Republican, which observers say also limits the participation of Texas Hispanics, who more often vote Democratic. In Medina County, County Judge Chris Schuchart said he believes the lack of Hispanic elected officials is more attributable to party than to ethnicity. “The county votes Republican, and … we generally have very few Democrats on the local ballot,” he said.
In Amarillo, Mercy Murguia was appointed in 2011 to fill an unexpired term on the Potter County Commissioners Court when she was 32. She has won re-election twice.
Since joining the Commissioners Court, she has sought to expand the Latino vote in the Panhandle. “We know apathy is a big reason — we’re not naive — but we also know that many Hispanics lack a basic understanding of where to vote, whether or not they’re registered and so forth.”
Murguia has also helped other Hispanics run for the school board. “The little things — just finding out how to run for school board, where to get the forms [to declare candidacy] — was difficult.”
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Out of curiosity have you considered that the district lines were skewed in favor of democrats prior to those changes?
evince
Truthmatters
court documentd