This should come as a surprise to no one.
Steve Munisteri, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, told party members last week that, if the court-drawn interim maps stand, he would seek to have Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature pledge to take up redistricting again in the 2013 legislative session.
He also said he would ask for authority to “instruct the RPT political staff to begin preparing a legislative lobbying blitz to push for redistricting at the next session.”
You can read his full statement here if you want to – it’s mostly a bunch of chest-thumping and judge-bashing. The Republicans have already established a precedent of re-redistricting when it suits them, so like I said, no one should be surprised by this. The fact that Steve Munisteri wants it to happen – in the event that SCOTUS doesn’t soothe their hurt feelings, of course – doesn’t mean that it will, of course. It took a lot of pushing from Tom DeLay for the 2003 do-over to happen. Joe Straus and whoever gets elevated to Lite Guv in David Dewhurst’s place have to want it to happen. Enough Republicans who feel confident that their own districts won’t get screwed over have to want it to happen. The ruling the DC Court ultimately renders in the state’s preclearance lawsuit has to leave room for them to do something. I’m not saying it can’t or won’t happen, just that this is one of those times when the crystal ball is a little too murky to make a prediction with any level of confidence. Burka has more.