Hidalgo Democrats Back House Map
that Puts Cameron Seat in Jeopardy

Capitol Inside
October 13, 2021

The Texas House approved a plan for its own members' new voting districts on Wednesday morning with four of the five Democrats from Hidalgo County siding with the ruling Republicans despite an eleventh-hour power play that gives the GOP a shot at a seat in the Rio Grande Valley.

The House capped off a floor fight that spanned 16 hours with an 83-63 vote about 3 a.m. on the proposed map that's designed to protect the Republican majority with the potential for the GOP to pick up a couple of seats or more at the polls in 2022.

The map that's proposed in House Bill 1 goes to the Senate for a vote that would be a formality under relatively normal circumstances with just five days left in the third special session that Governor Greg Abbott has called so far in 2021. The House would be expected to return the favor by endorsing the redistricting plan in Senate District 4. The House faces a vote on a new congressional map in Senate Bill 6 as well before the current session expires on Tuesday.

The all-Republican Legislative Redistricting Board would have the task of drawing new boundaries for Texas House and Senate districts if lawmakers failed to reached final deals on their own election districts. A federal court would design a new map for U.S. House districts in Texas if one doesn't emerge from the special session that's in the fourth quarter now.

Democrats decried HB 1 has a blatant assault on the voting rights of minorities who accounted for 96 percent of the state's population growth during the past decade based on the 2020 Census tally. The Democrats will be hoping to have the House map modified to some degree by federal judges if not thrown out completely. But the Republicans have had carte blanche for all practical purposes with Texas no longer required to seek preclearance approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before the plan can take effect.

The map in PLANH2316 could put the GOP in position to add several seats to its majority in the Legislature's lower chamber with the districts that Democratic State Reps. Michelle Beckley of Carrollton and James Talarico refashioned in ways that make them appear Republican on paper.

A pair of veteran South Texas Democrats - State Reps. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City and Tracy King of Uvalde - could find it harder to win in districts where the House added GOP voters.

But the most unexpected twist in the marathon debate on HB 1 came late Tuesday night when the House voted 72-70 for an amendment that GOP State Rep. J.M. Lozano of Kingsville served up in a move that would make it possible for the Republicans to break the Democratic monopoly on the border with the reconfiguration of the district that State Rep. Alex Dominguez of Brownsville represents in Cameron County.

Dominguez's home landed in the district where Democratic State Rep. Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville doesn't plan to seek re-election next year. Lucio and Dominguez were infuriated by the last-second alteration by Lozano, who represented a small part of Cameron County for one term as a Democrat before switching to the GOP almost 10 years ago.

But that didn't stop a quartet of Hidalgo County Democrats - State Reps. Terry Canales of Edinburg, Bobby Guerra of Mission, Oscar Longoria of Mission and Sergio Munoz of Mission - from voting in favor of the revised version of HB 1 early this morning.

State Reps. Jeff Cason of Bedford and Lyle Larson of San Antonio were the only Republicans to break ranks with the majority with votes they cast against the new House map. Cason's district in Tarrant County would be converted to a Democrat-leaning seat in HB 1. Larson announced today that he doesn't plan to run for a new term in 2022.

more to come ...

 


 

 


 

 

 

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