in Texas, the standoff over electoral redistribution

Sitting in a restaurant in Oak Cliff, the Latin quarter of Dallas, Ramiro Luna does not hide his exasperation. Director of Somos Tejas (“We are Texas”), an association that wants to increase the political participation of Hispanics in the city, he accuses the Republicans in power in Texas of using the electoral redistribution to limit the weight of his community, of more and more important. ” It’s a habit. They always seek to weaken us because we have the potential to influence the elections ”, he breathes.

Technical subject, the redistricting is nevertheless crucial for understanding the political dynamics across the Atlantic. When census figures are formalized every ten years, states revise the lines of constituencies for elected members of the House of Representatives to reflect changing demographics.

→ ANALYSIS. United States: in Virginia, a warning for Democrats

With four million additional residents since 2010, Texas will win two House MPs in the upcoming midterm elections (midterms), in November 2022. The stakes are high: the Republicans are only five small seats away from the reconquest of the majority, synonymous with cohabitation with the Biden administration.

A new division

Master of the cutting process in Texas, because it has a majority in the Parliament of this state of 30 million inhabitants, the right-wing party has not been deprived of it. He is accused of having drawn constituencies that dilute the non-white populations (95% of “new” Texans in ten years), traditionally favorable to the Democrats. How? ‘Or’ What ? By creating territories with quirky shapes where rural, white, conservative areas compensate for the electorate of urban centers and their suburbs, more diverse on the racial level.

As a result, the parliamentary constituencies predominantly populated by Latinos are fewer in number, even though this population represents almost half of the contingent of new inhabitants of the state. In addition, the number of districts where Donald Trump’s voters are in the majority increases from 22 to 25, while those in favor of Joe Biden fall from 14 to 13.

District 33, symbol of electoral maneuvers

One symbol of this scalpel size is “Parliamentary District 33,” which covers much of the Dallas area. Represented by a Democrat in the House of Representatives, this constituency, which voted nearly 75% for Biden in November 2020, is home to a booming Hispanic population due to booming economic opportunities.

However, with the new division, part of it was attached to a neighboring rural and conservative district. “We fear that the Democrats will lose their seats and that the new configuration of the constituency will make it more difficult for the emergence of Hispanic elected officials,” worries Gloria Leal, lawyer for the Lulac (League of United Latin American Citizens). This Latino civil rights NGO is suing Texas to seek a fair route.

Monday, December 6, the US Department of Justice did the same “For violation of the federal law on the right to vote”, adopted in 1965 after the great mobilization for civil rights. Reason: the new cutting “Deliberately weakens the electoral strength of minorities.”

According to the number 3 of the Ministry of Justice, Vanita Gupta, the local authorities have redesigned the constituencies in such a way that the representatives ” fromtwo new seats will be elected by a majority of white voters ”. An attack judged “Absurd” by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who denounces “One more ploy on the part of the Biden administration to control Texas voters.”

——————–

Redistributions every ten years

Every ten years, a new census allows demographic changes to be taken into account in order to change the electoral map of the nation. If the number of members of the House of Representatives does not vary – it is set at 435 – there are winners and losers every ten years.

This year, Texas (+2), Florida (+1), North Carolina (+1), Oregon (+1), Montana (+1) and Colorado (+1) won elected officials, to the detriment of California (-1 ), Ohio (-1), Michigan (-1), Illinois (-1), Pennsylvania (-1), West Virginia (-1) and the State of New York (-1).

These data are important for the midterm elections of November 2022, when the Americans elect their new Congress. Currently, the Democrats have 222 elected, the Republicans 213. The demographic trends are favorable to the West and the South, rather Republicans, and unfavorable to the North-East, traditionally Democrat.

– .