Opponents rip Texas GOP scheme to redraw map at first hearing: “I got screaming mad”

Sign up for The Brief The Texas Tribune s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the greater part essential Texas news Speaking to two dozen state lawmakers a packed hearing room two overflow rooms and a robust virtual waiting room Texans condemned the Legislature s plan to redraw the state s congressional map at the House redistricting committee s first citizens meeting on Thursday When I saw what you folks were doing up here in the Legislature I got screaming mad declared Christy Stockman from Corpus Christi It s a good old fashioned bait-and-switch with a power grab added in At the first of seven populace hearings Democratic lawmakers echoed these calls pressing their Republican colleagues on why redistricting was being pushed through during an overtime special legislative session The effort to change these districts at this time has nothing to do with representing people better stated Rep Jon Rosenthal a Houston Democrat and vice chair of the House committee in charge of redistricting It s the opposite of that It s a power grab at the expense of Black and brown communities The extraordinary attempt to redraw the congressional map in the middle of the decade comes after pressure from President Donald Trump who wants to pad Republicans narrow majority in the U S House ahead of a potentially tough midterm poll The Legislature has not yet revealed any proposed revisions of the existing map which was drawn in and has since reliably yielded seats for Republicans and for Democrats Rep Cody Vasut the Angleton Republican chairing the House redistricting committee disclosed the information gathered at the hearings will shape whether and how the maps are redrawn I ve never gone to a hearing where I didn t leave thinking about something a little differently Vasut recounted The Texas Tribune on Thursday We really want to hear from people on this and we are listening But numerous at the hearing including Democratic lawmakers condemned the hearings as a sham saying the map has likely already been drawn by Trump s political association That s what s at stake here whether you all are going to work for the people of Texas as we used to do to try to do or whether you take your commandments from Donald Trump and the White House stated U S Rep Joaquin Castro a San Antonio Democrat I hope that you all will choose to do the business of the people of Texas as this body has a history of being independent from the federal establishment Texas like all states redraws its electoral lines every ten years after the census shows who has moved where over the intervening decade While there s no law against redrawing the lines more often it s uncommon the last time Texas did a midcycle redistricting was after Republicans gained control of both chambers of the Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction This time it appears the impetus is coming from the federal ruling body A sparse weeks after Trump reportedly began pushing this idea the Department of Justice issued a letter telling Texas leaders that four of the state s congressional districts were unconstitutionally drawn based on race Gov Greg Abbott added redistricting to the special session agenda citing constitutional concerns raised by the U S Department of Justice even as Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed in a letter to the DOJ that the districts were drawn race blind Representatives for the state have repeatedly used the same argument to defend the current maps in court At a rally outside the Capitol before Thursday s hearing former U S Rep Beto O Rourke accused Trump and Abbott of being thick as thieves In order to continue this consolidation of authoritarian power and to destroy this democracy once and for all Trump has to retain control in the United States House of Representatives where he currently has a very narrow majority announced O Rourke a Democrat from El Paso And it turns out that the policies and the programs that he pursues are deeply unpopular with the American people Trump has reportedly urged Texas lawmakers to try to add five additional GOP seats which will necessarily involve slicing up existing Democratic districts several of which are made up of mostly Black and Hispanic voters Gabriel Rosales with the League of United Latin American Citizens informed lawmakers that this is part of Texas long history of disenfranchising Hispanic voters It s very demoralizing that we can do as much as we can to contribute but we don t have representation on water boards on school boards and city councils across the state Rosales announced And then people ask why Latinos don t vote Gary Bledsoe president of the Texas NAACP noted the state s current maps already under-represent Latino voters and this proposed switch will likely worsen it He disclosed it felt like lawmakers were just checking the box with the hearings before pushing forward with the maps Trump longed to see There s no real consequence to what we say and no disrespect but we have been disregarded in the past Bledsoe declared Democrats have vowed to do what they can to thwart the process so far dragging out debate over the rules and meticulously questioning each witness at Thursday s hearing It took almost minutes to get through the first three of over registered observers They also grilled Vasut on why Republicans were moving to redraw district lines now Rep Gene Wu of Houston the House Democratic Caucus chair petitioned Vasut whether he knew of any member of the Texas Legislature who had requested Abbott to take up mid-decade redistricting Vasut announced he was not personally aware but disclosed it was prudent and proper for lawmakers to follow the governor s special session agenda There is no obligation for us to do this at all at all disclosed Rep Joe Moody an El Paso Democrat Thursday was the first of three House redistricting hearings each slated to last no more than five hours The next will take place Saturday in Houston followed by a Monday hearing in Arlington Vasut encouraged people to submit comments through an online portal The Senate has scheduled four hearings all virtual starting Friday at a m The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow Be there when all-star leaders innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin Nov The newest additions include comedian actor and writer John Mulaney Dallas mayor Eric Johnson U S Sen Amy Klobuchar D-Minnesota New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher and U S Rep Veronica Escobar D-El Paso Get your tickets in current times TribFest is presented by JPMorganChase This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https www texastribune org texas-redistricting-hearing-house-legislature-congress The Texas Tribune is a member-supported nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and procedures Learn more at texastribune org The post Opponents rip Texas GOP scheme to redraw map at first hearing I got screaming mad appeared first on Salon 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