Editor's note* This story's headline was edited for length
"Texas Senate opens redistricting debate with proposed map one senator labels “intentional discrimination" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas State Senate kicked off the decennial redistricting process on Saturday when it released the first draft of its own members’ district maps.
On Monday, the Texas Legislature meets for a 30-day special session dedicated to redrawing political maps based on the latest census data, which showed people of color fueled 95% of Texas’ population growth over the past decade.
The Legislature is tasked with setting new boundaries for House and Senate districts in addition to redrawing new district maps for the state’s congressional seats and for the State Board of Education.
All four maps will ultimately have to be approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. After they’re debated, amended, passed and signed, lawsuits — some of which have already been filed, will move redistricting into the courts, possibly resulting in more changes before the 2022 elections.
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.”
Powell’s district is currently contained in Tarrant County, which voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, but the new version of District 10 reaches into more conservative Parker and Johnson counties.
This is the first time in decades federal law allows Texas to draw and use political maps without first getting required federal approval to ensure that they’re not disenfranchising the voting rights of people of color. That federal preclearance requirement in the Voting Rights Act was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.
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.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/18/texas-senate-redistricting-map/.
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