Redistricting may push back primaries
A federal court rejected a redistricting proposal presented Monday, Feb. 6, by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, likely pushing the state’s primaries back a second time.
In an effort to maintain the current April 3 primary date, Abbott had announced that a compromise had been reached between the state and some of the minority groups that have legally challenged the initial boundaries drawn by the GOP-led Legislature. Under the proposal, Hispanics stood to gain control of two of the four new congressional seats Texas was awarded following the 2010 census.
“The proposed maps minimize changes to the redistricting plan passed by the Legislature and, as the U.S. Supreme Court required, makes changes only where necessary,” Abbott said. “The Texas Attorney General’s Office has worked with a wide range of interest groups to incorporate reasonable requests from all parties to the extent possible without compromising the will of the Texas Legislature. Even though these proposed interim maps aren’t fully supported by all interest groups, modifications have been incorporated based on requests made by all parties. Today’s maps should allow the court to finalize the interim redistricting maps in time to have elections in April.”
While Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force – which includes the Texas League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), GI Forum, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, Domingo Garcia, the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas and La Fe Policy Research and Education Center – signed off on the deal, the agreement did not have the support of the Texas Democratic Party, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC), the Legislative Black Caucus or the NAACP.
Opponents of the proposal, say the newly drawn districts still fail to fairly represent the state’s growing minority population, particularly Hispanics.
“We’re greatly disappointed the attorney general did not deal in good faith with all parties involved,” the Texas Democratic Party released in a statement Monday. “For the Texas Democratic Party, any maps that do not have the consent of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Black Caucus, and other plaintiffs are nonstarters.”
The federal court, a three-judge panel in San Antonio, had ordered both sides to reach a deal by Monday to prevent the primaries from being delayed again.
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