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Incumbents could face off Redistricting panel's plan puts 16 House members in 8 districts 04/16/2001 By Sam Attlesey / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN – As many as 16 state representatives could be forced to run against one of their colleagues next year under a proposal drawn by the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee.
None of the 16 Dallas County representatives would be "paired" under the tentative plan. A pairing occurs when one incumbent's residence is drawn into a district that includes another incumbent's residence.
Dallas-area House members, however, are divided over how to carve the county to reflect population shifts.
Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, who heads the House redistricting committee, said he doubted there would be many changes in the 16 Dallas districts, and the partisan split should remain at eight Democrats and eight Republicans.
As for the statewide plan, Mr. Jones said he was unclear on what effect his proposed map would have on the party makeup of the House.
Democrats now hold 78 seats; the GOP holds 72.
The Legislature must redraw House and Senate boundaries to reflect the new census. Redistricting is often a bitter battle rooted in political survival.
Mr. Jones said that because of population shifts, his proposal probably would force some incumbents to run against other incumbents in elections next year.
"Near as I can tell, we're probably going to end up with eight pairings, affecting 16 people," Mr. Jones said in an interview.
He said the pairings would be in West Texas, East Texas and Harris and Bexar counties. He did not say which representatives would be paired.
Those areas did not grow as fast as other parts of the state.
As for Dallas County, Mr. Jones said, "I don't see making any big changes."
Dallas County plans
But several Dallas-area lawmakers are calling for major changes in the 16 county districts.
Mr. Jones had requested the Dallas delegation try to agree to a single plan and give it to his committee for consideration.
Rep. Domingo Garcia, D-Dallas, told the panel last week that it probably would receive four maps of Dallas County legislative districts.
The differences, he said, are because of conflict among the delegation over where the new boundaries should be drawn.
He noted that the census shows Hispanics account for 30 percent of the Dallas County population.
"The numbers are so large now, we need to have more Hispanic-opportunity districts for the Statehouse," he said. Two representatives out of the 16 are Hispanic.
He presented a plan with three districts that have at least 63 percent Hispanic population.
"When we drew these maps, incumbency was not the primary motive behind the drawing of these lines," he said. "We tried to create maps that created communities of interest, that had the same economic-social background ... people who lived and went to the same churches, whose kids went to the same schools, who listen to the same radio and TV stations for the language issue."
Analysts said Mr. Garcia's plan could hurt the re-election hopes of Dallas Democratic Reps. Helen Giddings, Terri Hodge, Dale Tillery and Steve Wolens.
Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, said he was working on a plan that could increase GOP representation in Dallas County.
He said he was not optimistic that a plan could be drawn that would satisfy the Dallas delegation.
"I don't know if it's going to get worked out," he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, has proposed a "working plan" for the 31 districts in his chamber.
The proposal does not pair any incumbents.
Under Mr. Wentworth's proposal, portions of six senatorial districts would be in Dallas County. Currently, portions of five districts are in the county. |
