| Christopher Lee: Let the tug of war begin in drawing new districts Democrats, GOP playing to win in power struggle 03/25/2001 By Christopher Lee / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON – Nothing makes a Texas congressman's heart skip a beat like the sight of people in Austin drawing district lines on a state map.
Over the next two months, state lawmakers will have the Texas delegation's fate in their hands as they carve out new congressional districts to account for population changes over the last 10 years.
A nip here, a tuck there and a district that, say, a Democrat had won for years looks more like one that will send a Republican to Washington in the 2002 election.
While many voters may have no clue as to who represents them in Congress, rest assured the politicians know exactly where they are. And depending on the voters' political leanings, the politicians will work feverishly with their state legislative allies to get those voters in or out of their districts.
"It's the one case where Congress members are very much beholden to the state legislators, a reversal of the normal process," said Richard Murray, a professor of political science at the University of Houston.
Who deserves seats?
This year, as in the 1991 redistricting, the tug of war is between Republicans who say the GOP deserves more seats and Democrats who say Republicans have overstated their case. Democrats hold 17 of Texas' 30 congressional seats to Republicans' 13.
One key difference this time: Control is split in the Legislature, with Democrats holding the House, Republicans the Senate and a GOP governor in Rick Perry.
That should ensure that maps are drawn fairly, something that did not happen when Democrats were in full control in 1991, Republicans say, adding that it should mean more seats for them.
"Democrats drew the maps, so even a fair drawing helps us," said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the GOP's national point man on redistricting. "I think we're going to do very well in Texas ... We ought to pick up five or six seats."
U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, chairman of IMPAC 2000, the Democrats' national redistricting effort, said the existing districts were drawn fairly according to the long-standing principle that incumbents should have a chance to keep their seats. He said he expects no less this time, and he added that Republicans had been hoping to control the process to their advantage.
"The Republicans were telling everyone that Texas was their hole card, that Texas was the place where they were going to make up for everything else," Mr. Frost said. "They totally failed in their effort to take over the Texas House. Both parties will have a seat at the table, and we will see how it [redistricting] will play out."
An additional prize
This year there is an additional prize: Texas is gaining two seats because of its tremendous population growth of nearly 4 million new residents in the last decade. How and where those districts are drawn will have a dramatic influence on which party can claim them in the next election.
Mr. Frost argues that the two new Texas districts should be split between the parties, with a new Hispanic district going to South Texas and one to Republicans in North Texas.
Hispanics, who tend to vote Democratic, make up 32 percent of Texas's 20.8 million residents, up from 25.5 percent 10 years ago, according to the U.S. census.
"In Texas, with 6.6 million Hispanics, it seems to me it would be somewhat difficult for the Legislature to draw a seat that is not Hispanic," Mr. Frost said.
Republicans argue that both new districts should go to fast-growing suburban regions dominated by Republicans, notably North Texas and the Austin-San Antonio corridor.
Suburban growth
"The growth within the state has been in the suburban Republican areas," said state Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, a member of the House Redistricting Committee. "What ultimately is going to happen, I don't know."
One thing both sides agree on: The matter of the maps will probably end up in court. Even if the Legislature and the governor approve a new congressional map, someone will be unhappy enough to challenge the way it was drawn.
In fact, three lawsuits already have been filed alleging that the politicians will draw the lines to help themselves rather than to establish sensible districts.
It was 1996 before all the lawsuits from the 1991 redistricting played out.
"The cycle lasted over five years before we got our final districts for Congress," said political scientist Dr. Murray. "Pretty good bet it will drag on for years this time. So this is just round one."
Staff writer Christopher Lee covers Congress and the Texas delegation for The Dallas Morning News.
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