Tag Archives: redistricting

New map, new opportunities: The Metroplex

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Dallas and Tarrant Counties will each have eight districts drawn to elect Republicans in them. For this entry, I’m going to look at each of these districts. First up is Tarrant County, which gains a district (HD101) for a total … Continue reading →

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House approves Senate’s SBOE map

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

On to the Governor for final approval of the new SBOE redistricting map. The House voted 80-61 for the map, which contained changes made by the Senate and finishes the Legislature’s action on redrawing lines for the State Board of … Continue reading →

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Updated interactive House redistricting map from the Trib

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib published a table when the Solomons redistricting map for the Texas House first came out that showed changes to each district’s partisan makeup. That map was modified before its final passage, so they have now produced this interactive … Continue reading →

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New map, new opportunities: Travis, Bexar, El Paso

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

On to the urban counties. I’m grouping these three together because there’s really only one opportunity in each, and none of them are truly “new”. But never mind that. Let’s look at some data. District: 47 Incumbent: Paul Workman (first … Continue reading →

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New map, new opportunities: Outside the urban areas, part 2

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

More districts to look at for Democratic opportunities outside of the traditional urban areas. District: 45 Incumbent: Jason Isaacs (first elected in 2010) Counties: Blanco, Hays Best 2008 Dem performance: Barack Obama, 46.78% Patrick Rose won this district in 2002, … Continue reading →

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Senate passes SBOE map

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

They had a busy day on Friday. Travis County remains divided between two State Board of Education districts under the redistricting plan adopted by the Texas Senate on Friday. See the map here. […] The new map was passed on … Continue reading →

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New map, new opportunities: Outside the urban areas, part 1

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the first post in my series of analyses of the new districts. I’m using 2008 electoral data, since the next election is a Presidential year, and I feel confident that the districts were drawn with an eye strongly towards … Continue reading →

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Time to start analyzing the new districts

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

You will no doubt be excited to hear that I now have electoral data for the new State House districts as they currently stand. My thanks to Joe Madden of the Legislative Study Group for getting all that to me. … Continue reading →

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Calling for a Latino Congressional seat in Harris County

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: HOUSTON AREA HISPANIC LEADERS: CREATE A HISPANIC OPPORTUNITY CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT IN HARRIS COUNTY HOUSTON – Recently, Houston area Hispanic community leaders successfully coalesced to unite behind State Senator Mario Gallegos’s efforts to create a second Hispanic opportunity … Continue reading →

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House passes redistricting map

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib stayed up all night to see how it ended. The Texas House tentatively approved new political districts early this morning on a 92-52 vote after hours of nips and tucks that left the proposal they started with mostly … Continue reading →

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Eversole and Surface to be tried together

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There will be only one more trial relating to the Jerry Eversole case. We think, anyway. Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole and developer Michael Surface, two longtime friends who exchanged more than $100,000 in trips and gifts, will be tried … Continue reading →

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HISD redistricting on the horizon

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is likely to be a lot less contentious than other map-drawing exercises we’ve seen, but no redistricting exercise is ever completely bloodless. Gene Locke of Andrews Kurth told [HISD] trustees they should have a plan to submit to the … Continue reading →

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Parker and Emmett ask for redistricting reconsideration

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor Annise Parker and County Judge Ed Emmett have written a letter to House Speaker Joe Straus asking for reconsideration of the Solomons map that reduces Harris County’s delegation to 25 members. You can see the letter on Rep. Garnet … Continue reading →

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The last hearings on Council redistricting

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of action, and lots of alternatives, at the two Council meetings on Wednesday. Hispanic civic leaders on Wednesday presented an alternative redistricting map for the Houston City Council that creates a third district on the city’s southwest side where … Continue reading →

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One Heights, two districts

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

As we head into the last of the public meetings on City Council redistricting, we are reminded that you can’t always get what you want from the process. A proposed redistricting map that separates historic neighborhoods in the Houston Heights … Continue reading →

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Redistricting committee votes out State House map

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Politics: By a vote of 11 to 5, the House Redistricting Committee approved a plan redrawing the Texas House map that, according to its sponsor, committee chairman Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, creates a total of 30 minority opportunity districts. The … Continue reading →

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House approves SBOE map

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

One down, three to go. A new map for the 15-member Texas State Board of Education became the first redistricting proposal to make its way through the Texas House Thursday afternoon, winning approval on a vote of 99-45. State Rep. … Continue reading →

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Messing with Doggett

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure the Republicans would love to draw Lloyd Doggett out of existence if they can. The question is whether they can do it without causing other problems elsewhere. Republicans have tried to oust Doggett before by drawing a district … Continue reading →

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Solomons State House map 2.0

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Go to http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/ and check out Plan H134 for a revised State House map from House Redistricting Chair Burt Solomons. Here’s the Harris County view: Still 24 districts, with either Rep. Scott Hochberg or Rep. Hubert Vo on the outside … Continue reading →

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Chron story about the House redistricting map

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s what the Chron had to say about the initial redistricting map for the State House. I’m just going to focus on a couple of things: The statewide map creates one new Latino district, maintains the current number of black … Continue reading →

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First State House redistricting plan is up

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Go here, click Select Plans, then Base Plan, then choose Plan H113. The first thing I noticed is that it did in fact reduce Harris County to 24 members. Here’s a screen grab: HD149 is the odd district out – … Continue reading →

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A third opportunity district

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Greg breaks out the mapmaking tools and redraws the city’s proposed Council map in a way that creates a more realistic third Hispanic opportunity district. It’s not a heavy favorite to elect a Latino candidate the way districts H and … Continue reading →

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So what is the point of the SBOE, anyway?

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s another story about the difficulties of SBOE redistricting, and it’s got me wondering why we bother having an elected body called the State Board of Education. This legislative session, lawmakers are working on redrawing the 15 districts based on … Continue reading →

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Let’s not look for excuses

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, MALDEF released a Congressional redistricting plan for Texas that was aimed at drawing two new Latino Congressional seats. Paul Burka has a complaint about one of the districts they drew. The other district in Plan 108C is the … Continue reading →

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NYT on Ellen Cohen

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

You don’t expect Houston City Council races or candidates to get written up in the Times, but Ellen Cohen isn’t your everyday candidate. Well, and there’s the partnership with the Texas Tribune, too. Of interest is the question of whether … Continue reading →

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First public hearing on Council redistricting this Wednesday

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Public Hearings on Proposed City Council Redistricting Plan On Wednesday, April 6, 2011, the Houston City Council was presented with the proposed City Council Redistricting Plan. Three public hearings will be held to discuss the proposed plan … Continue reading →

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The redistricting process gets started in the Lege

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib: The public version of drawing new congressional maps for Texas started [Thursday] morning with committee hearings and the unveiling of a proposal from a coalition that insists at least two of the four new districts should have … Continue reading →

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More on the new Council map

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story about the proposed new Council map. Reactions were about what you’d expect for the most part. “There’s two Latino council members and you have, currently, nine districts,” [District I Council Member James Rodriguez] said. “We’re moving … Continue reading →

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MALC files redistricting lawsuit

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is the second lawsuit that has been filed in the state of Texas related to the Census and redistricting. And to think, we don’t even have a map produced by the Redistricting Committee yet. A group of Hispanic lawmakers … Continue reading →

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Proposed new City Council map is out

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Feast your eyes: Numbers and a sideways view of the map can be seen here. You can also see these docs plus a map of current Council districts at Houston Politics. A few rough observations: – The first thing you … Continue reading →

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Smith v. Barton on redistricting

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From Politico: A bitter, behind-the-scenes fight has broken out among Texas Republicans over redistricting, pitting Rep. Lamar Smith against longtime colleague Rep. Joe Barton. The dispute is over the makeup of four new congressional districts for the Lone Star State, … Continue reading →

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SBOE map approved by House committee

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

One down for the House Redistricting Committee. A House Redistricting Committee approved a new map for the State Board of Education [Friday] afternoon on a vote of 12-4. The map now moves to the full House. State Rep. Carol Alvarado, … Continue reading →

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SBOE redistricting

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The House Redistricting Committee gets to work. It would be easier to draw new State Board of Education districts to reflect the state’s booming Hispanic population growth if there were more than 15 seats, a state lawmaker said Friday while … Continue reading →

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District H redistricting town hall meeting

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: City of Houston Redistricting 2011 Town Hall Meeting (District H) Mayor Annise D. Parker District H Council Member Edward Gonzalez City of Houston Attorney Dave Feldman Monday, March 28, 2011 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. Jefferson Davis High … Continue reading →

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