2003 Texas redistricting

Justice Department review

At the time of the 2003 redistricting, Texas was under the pre-clearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The State of Texas obtained pre-clearance from the US Department of Justice for its 2003 congressional redistricting plan.

But in December 2005, The Washington Post reported, "Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo," uncovered by the newspaper. The document, endorsed by six Justice Department attorneys, said

In addition, according to the Post, Justice Department lawyers "found that Republican lawmakers and state officials who helped craft the proposal were aware it posed a high risk of being ruled discriminatory compared with other options". Texas legislators proceeded with the new plan "because it would maximize the number of Republican federal lawmakers in the state".

The article noted that senior political appointees in the Justice Department had overridden the position and findings by the Civil Rights Division's career civil service staff lawyers and analysts, and approved the redistricting.

Criticism

Democrats criticized the 2003 redistricting plan, citing the lack of precedent for redistricting twice in a decade (a so-called "mid-decade" redistricting) and argued that it was conducted for purely political gain by the Republican Party. Public comments by some Republicans lent support to this latter claim, since many discussed their expectations of picking up several Republican seats. Some minority groups argued the plan was unconstitutional, as it would dilute their influence and possibly violate the "one-person-one-vote" principle of redistricting. Republicans argued that, since most voters in the state were Republicans, that they be represented by a majority-Republican congressional delegation in Washington.

The 2004 elections under the new redistricting resulted in Texas Republicans gaining a majority of House seats by a 21–11 margin, nearly a 2/1 ratio in terms of seats (66% of seats). This was significantly larger than the 61/38 voting ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the Presidential race. The ratio of Republicans to Democrats who won seats in the race was much more lopsided than the total results of just the 32 House races themselves. While about 66% of Texas's U.S. House of Representatives seats were won by Republicans, the percentages of the actual votes cast were 56% for Republicans, 40% for Democrats, and 3% for others. (Note that the two main parties did not both run candidates in four districts.)

2006 Supreme Court review

The US Supreme Court issued an opinion on the case in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry on June 28, 2006. While the Court said states are free to redistrict as often as desired, the justices ruled that Texas's 23rd congressional district was invalid, as it violated Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by racial gerrymandering. This decision required lawmakers to adjust boundaries in line with the Court's ruling.

A three-judge panel, under an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals, oversaw the redistricting. On June 29, 2006, a U.S. District Judge ordered both sides to submit proposed maps by July 14, respond to their opponents' maps by July 21, and be prepared to hold oral arguments on August 3.

Targeted Democrats

The 2003 redistricting targeted ten districts with white Democratic incumbents, avoiding the seven districts with minority Democratic incumbents.

• Max Sandlin (TX-1) was defeated in 2004 by Republican Louie Gohmert.
• Jim Turner (TX-2) did not seek reelection in 2004. His seat was won by Republican Ted Poe.
• Ralph Hall (TX-4) changed his party affiliation to Republican and was reelected in 2004.
• Nick Lampson (TX-9) was moved to the 2nd district as a result of the redistricting and was defeated by Ted Poe. He relocated to the Sugar Land area in 2006 and ran for the seat being vacated by Tom DeLay (who had resigned due to pending conspiracy and money laundering charges). He won election to the historically Republican 22nd district that year, but in 2008 he was defeated by the Republican Pete Olson.
• Lloyd Doggett (TX-10) was moved to the 25th district, created as a narrow strip running from Austin south to the Mexican border, and derisively called the "fajita strip" for containing a majority of Hispanics. Doggett won re-election in the new district after defeating District Court Judge Leticia Hinojosa from McAllen. After a Supreme Court ruling found the nearby 23rd district violated the Voting Rights Act, the 25th district was redrawn for the 2006 election, where Rep. Doggett again prevailed.
• Chet Edwards (TX-11) was moved into the 17th district, which had a higher percentage of Republican voters in its new form. Despite this, the Democrat Edwards was re-elected in 2004, 2006 and 2008. In 2010 he was defeated by Republican Bill Flores.
• Charlie Stenholm (TX-17) was shifted into the heavily Republican 19th district. He unsuccessfully ran against that district's Republican incumbent, Randy Neugebauer.
• Martin Frost (TX-24) saw his district split off into several newly drawn Dallas-area districts intended to favor and elect Republicans. He changed his residency to run in the 32nd district and lost to the district's Republican incumbent, Pete Sessions. Frost's old district, in its redrawn form, was won by Kenny Marchant, a Republican state legislator from Carrollton.
• Chris Bell (TX-25) had his district renumbered as the 9th district, which was gerrymandered into a minority-majority district. Bell lost the Democratic primary to Al Green, NAACP president of Texas, who easily won the general election.
• Gene Green (TX-29) was reelected in 2004. Of the Democrats affected by redistricting, Green is the only one who won reelection without being shifted to another district or changing parties. He was the only white Democrat left among representatives from the Houston area, and he represented a Latino-majority district until his retirement in 2018.

The redistricting appeared intended to protect Henry Bonilla, a Hispanic Republican of TX-23. He had faced a stiff challenge from conservative Democrat Henry Cuellar in 2002. It also neutralized liberal Democrat Ciro Rodriguez. This was done by putting the two Democrats in the same district and forcing them to run against each other for the Democratic nomination (Cuellar won).

In 2006, however, the Supreme Court ruling required redrawing the boundaries for TX-23. It resulted in a special election, in which Bonilla faced six Democratic candidates and an independent in a jungle primary. He was defeated by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez in the run-off.

References

References

1. "2002 Election Statistics".
2. "Cases and Codes". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com.
3. (June 28, 2006). "Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts". The New York Times.
4. [https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-204.pdf], League of United Latin American Citizens, et al. v. Perry, Governor of Texas, et al. 2006
5. Bickerstaff, Steve. (2007). "Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay". University of Texas Press.
6. Bickerstaff, Steve. (2007). "Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay". University of Texas Press.
7. Toobin, Jeffrey. (February 6, 2006). "Drawing the Line – Will Tom Delay's Redistricting in Texas Cost Him His Seat?".
8. Paul Burka, ''Texas Monthly'', May 2006
9. Eggen, Dan. (December 2, 2005). "Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal". The Washington Post.
10. "Texas 2004 Election Results". The Washington Post.
11. Castro, April. (June 29, 2006). "July 14 deadline set on redistricting plans". Houston Chronicle.
12. Bickerstaff, Steve. (2007). "Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay". University of Texas Press.